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Interview with BMW's Robert Kubica

Interview with BMW Sauber F1 Team Driver Robert Kubica.

21 June 2007
Q. Robert, how do you feel?

Robert Kubica: "I feel very well and it was touching how often I was asked this question! I received so many good wishes from all over the world and want to thank everybody for this."

Q. What have you been doing since you left Indianapolis?

Robert Kubica: "I am pretty bored with doing nothing. I am not used to resting for such a long period - no test, no pr days. But, of course, I have used the time for my fitness preparation in Italy and am also in constant contact with Josef Leberer, our team's physio."

Q. How was the reaction in Poland?

Robert Kubica: "Although I did not go to Poland I know from my family that my accident in Montreal was quite a shock in Poland and I have received a lot of cheering messages from all my friends and fans living in Poland. The 30 minutes after the accident were very tough for my relatives in Poland until they got the information that I was not injured."

Q. Do you think the accident will have an influence on your driving in the future?

Robert Kubica: "No, definitely not. I always knew that with a single seater and open wheels an accident like this could happen. Also it can always happen again. This is the same for every driver and we are all aware of it. I feel what happened is more encouraging than worrying thanks to the outcome that you still can climb out without being hurt. The improved safety regulations from the FIA plus the "safety first" approach of our BMW Sauber F1 Team engineers and designers have made this possible. I would like to say a big personal thank you to all of them. If I had been born earlier I would have still wanted to race in Formula One, but most likely would have suffered injuries. I feel I am lucky to be racing in modern Formula One."

Q. What are your feelings ahead of the French Grand Prix?

Robert Kubica: "Well, as I said, I can't wait to race! But whether I am allowed to or not is down to the decision of the official doctors, who I have to see before the race in Magny-Cours."

BMW Sauber F1 Team - Test in Silverstone - Day two

Timo Glock started the first of his two days of testing. He was able to complete the tire testing in the morning as the rain did not come until the afternoon. Other work on the program included suspension development and aero work. Unfortunately the schedule was disrupted by the afternoon showers, so the team was not able to complete all the work it had planned. Despite this the results were positive and the team was happy.

The team is hoping that Timo will be able to finish the race preparation for the Grand Prix at Silverstone on the 8th July, but this will be weather permitting as the forecast is not good.

Is Kimi Cursing his move from McLaren to Ferrari?

The World Formula One championship is many hundreds of laps from being done and dusted, but Kimi Raikkonen would not be human if he hasn't already asked himself if he has made the wrong move in jumping from McLaren to Ferrari this year of all years.

With McLaren Mercedes looking so strong, and Ferrari seemingly off the boil, was it a mistake to leave McLaren when he did? Was advice to stay ignored?

Of course, it is true that McLaren's recent past had some problems, but it is a team that has always had the capacity to recover.

Raikkonen would have been more competitive this year had he remained at McLaren, where he had won races, though never the world title.

I was hoping that Raikkonen would get his own fortunes back on track in Canada or maybe at Indy this past weekend. But the cheers were again urging Lewis Hamilton to a win.

Raikkonen started karting at the age of 12 and enjoyed considerable success in the sport before turning to single-seater racing in 1999 for four races in British Formula Renault. He had a few outings in Formula Ford and then decided to concentrate on Formula Renault and entered the Winter Series in Britain with Manor Motorsport. He won all four events. Her stayed with Manor for the 2000 season and won seven of the 10 races and was on the podium in the other three events. he also took part in three European races, winning two of them.

Such was his success that in September 2000 the Sauber team tested him at Mugello and immediately decided to sign him up for 2001 as team mate to Nick Heidfeld. It proved to be an inspired choice and Raikkonen finished sixth on his Grand Prix debut in Australia and went on to score on three more occasions (twice finishing fourth) in the midseason. McLaren decided in August to make a bid for the Finnish driver to replace Mika Hakkinen and he was signed by McLaren on a five year deal in September. In 2002 he failed to win a race but looked strong on several occasions and he won his first F1 victory in Malaysia in 2003. There would be more than 18 months of frustration with poor cars before he won again in Belgium in 2004.

In 2005 he was joined at McLaren by Juan Pablo Montoya. The team was very competitive and Raikkonen won a string of races and would have won the World Championship but for poor reliability.

There was further frustration in 2006 as the McLaren was not fast enough and Raikkonen decided to take up the offer to join Ferrari in 2007, as replacement for the great Michael Schumacher.

Say Cheese

Ralf fastest at Silverstone - 1st day

Ralf Schumacher served notice and topped the times on the opening day of testing at Silverstone this week. The under-fire Toyota driver finished the day 0.1s ahead of McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa.

Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber was third fastest but his car stopped on the track in the afternoon. Luca Badoer was  on duty for Ferrari, the Italian focusing on set-ups as  well  as  the development  of  new  components to  be  used  in  the upcoming Grands  Prix.  Having lost track-time due to a technical problem in the morning, Badoer eventually completed 57 laps, finishing almost a second off the pace. Kimi Raikkonen  takes over tomorrow. Let's see what the "ice-man" can do.

The most dramatic incident of the day came when Williams tester Kazuki Nakajima went off track in the finals sector and damaged the car's front wing in the morning.

Adrian Valles and Giedo van der Garde were in action for the Spyker team.

Rain was expected, but it held off all day allowing plenty of running. The three-day test continues tomorrow.

Is F1 really boring? - I say No!

Who's really bored lately watching F1? Some have said that they had written off Formula One as an unsporting, processional bore. Along comes a British driver who seems to combine raw talent and a naked desire to race, with the ability to make good on the hype and what seems genuine humility.

The racing this season isn’t any better... you say... still isn’t much competitive overtaking? Well you might be right, but Kubica’s sickening accident was a timely reminder of the fear the drivers must face down just to exit the pit lane. This remains a very high-consequence sport, and that alone demands our attention. As does the endgame of Ron Dennis’s extraordinarily precognitive decision to sign a pre-pubescent Hamilton to McLaren a decade ago.

I suspect he may really be that good

At first I thought Hamilton - sure a fluke, just wait until Alonso - or maybe the ice-man Kimi comes out of the woodworks. But the way he won in Canada and Indy suggested he could win the drivers’ championship at his first attempt, so I suspect he may really be that good. I suspect I'll watch more F1 as normal - looking too see if Alonso or Kimi - or hopefully the BMW boys can become challenging. Otherwise we may have another "Schumacher-syndrome" on Sundays. Where every race is dominated by one man - Hamilton.

I know I'm tuning in to see who can challenge this new knight in his silver racer every weekend. The same thing will be happening to other former Formula One fans across the world - I'm sure. Gardens will go untended. Cars will go unwashed. Whole sections of the Sunday papers will go unread. And I reckon there’ll be a Brit at the top of the drivers’ standings at the end of the season.

Standings so far

Drivers' world championship 2007
Name	Car	Nat	Points
1 Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	GB	58
2 Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	Spa	48
3 Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Brz	39
4 Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Fin	32
5 Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	Ger	26
6 Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	Ita	13
7 Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	Pol	12
8 Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	Fin	12
9 Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	Aut	8
10 Jarno Trulli	Toyota	Ita	7
11 Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	Ger	5
12 David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	GB	4
13 Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	Jpn	4
14 Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	Aus	2
15 Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	Ger	2
16 Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber	Ger	1
17 Rubens Barrichello	Honda	Brz	0
18 Jenson Button	Honda	GB	0
19 Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	Ita	0
20 Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	Ned	0
21 Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	US	0
22 Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	Ger	0
23 Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	GB	0

                   

Constructors' world championship 2007
Team	Points
1 McLaren-Mercedes	106
2 Ferrari	71
3 BMW Sauber	39
4 Renault	25
5 Williams-Toyota	13
6 Toyota	9
7 Red Bull-Renault	6
8 Super Aguri-Honda	4
9 Honda	0
10 Toro Rosso-Ferrari	0
11 Spyker-Ferrari	0

Positions after US Grand Prix

Hamilton All The Way at Indy!

Lewis Hamilton produced yet another incredible display to claim his second straight win in a McLaren one-two at the United States Grand Prix.

The victory, in his first-ever race in Indianapolis, saw the Briton extend his lead over team-mate Fernando Alonso in the title race to 10 points.

Hamilton held off an attempted pass from Alonso on lap 39 but after that the pair did not race each other again.

The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen took third and fourth place.

Just seven days after claiming a maiden Grand Prix win in Canada, Hamilton delivered another assured drive at the famous Motor Speedway circuit.

"What a dream," said the 22-year-old, after he had climbed onto the podium for the seventh time in his fledgling seven-race Formula One career.

"To come to two circuits (Montreal and Indianapolis) that I didn't know and to really come out with such pace and to see the team moving forward is great.

The last 15 laps seemed a lifetime, but I was in the lead, I was able to do it and I'm very emotional now.

After taking a second straight pole, Hamilton was able to complete a grid-to-flag victory, coolly dealing with Alonso's two attempts to pass him.

The Spanish world champion tried to hustle pole-sitter Hamilton off the grid but the rookie pulled away and used his now customary early pace to stretch his lead.

After making their first pit-stops just one lap apart, Alonso tried to pass Hamilton, who had become embroiled with the back-markers.

Alonso gathered pace in Hamilton's slipstream and the two McLarens went side-by-side down the main straight, only for Alonso to be thwarted by the Briton as they entered Turn One - after that tussle the McLarens did not race again.

McLaren's build-up to Indy had been dominated by Alonso and Hamilton's publicly sniping about favoritism within the team.

When it came to the crunch team boss Ron Dennis wisely chose to bring both his drivers home safely and preserve the points.

Hamilton added: "It was very tough, Alonso fought very well but at the end I managed to pull a gap which I was able to maintain and control the race."

Alonso, whose glum expression indicated he took little comfort from his best-ever finish in the US, said he had lost the race right at the beginning.

"I think the start was the key point of the race, after that who was second would be second in the race," said Alonso, 25.

"My start was good but we both braked in more or less the same place. I tried to overtake but I didn't want my race to finish in the first corner.

"Eight points are better than nothing, we increased the gap on Ferrari which is one of the main things at this is point in the championship."

Hamilton's win in Indianapolis saw him become only the fourth rookie, alongside Jacques Villeneuve, Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio, to win at least two races in their debut season.

It was also an historic day in Indianapolis for Sebastian Vettel, who became the youngest driver to score a point.

The 19-year-old was making his debut for BMW Sauber as a replacement for Robert Kubica, who is still recovering from the effects of his high-speed crash in Montreal.

Vettel drove smartly and was bumped up into eighth after Nico Rosberg retired on lap 69 as smoke plumed out of his Williams, which was yet again haunted by reliability problems.

There were signs of encouragement for Renault as Heikki Kovalainen, who briefly led a race for the first time in his career, finished fifth ahead of Toyota's tenacious Jarno Trulli.

Mark Webber collected his first points of the season in seventh for Red Bull. There was less luck for Trulli and Webber's respective team-mates.

David Coulthard's Red Bull got shunted by Ralf Schumacher's Toyota out of Turn One on the opening lap, forcing both, along with Honda's Rubens Barrichello, to retire.

Jenson Button brought the other Honda home in 12th while fellow Briton Anthony Davidson was one place better off in his Super Aguri. 

 

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Results from the United States Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

1.   Lewis Hamilton (Britain)        McLaren   1hr 31min 09.965
2.   Fernando Alonso (Spain)         McLaren        +00:01.518
3.   Felipe Massa (Brazil)           Ferrari         00:12.842
4.   Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)        Ferrari         00:15.422
5.   Heikki Kovalainen (Finland)     Renault         00:41.402
6.   Jarno Trulli (Italy)            Toyota          01:06.703
7.   Mark Webber (Australia)         RedBull-Renault 01:07.331
8.   Sebastian Vettel (Germany)      BMW Sauber      01:07.783
9.   Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy)    Renault             1 lap
10.  Alexander Wurz (Austria)        Williams-Toyota     1 lap
11.  Anthony Davidson (Britain)      Super Aguri-Honda   1 lap
12.  Jenson Button (Britain)         Honda               1 lap
13.  Scott Speed (U.S.)              Toro Rosso-Ferrari  2 laps
14.  Adrian Sutil (Germany)          Spyker-Ferrari      2 laps
15.  Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Spyker-Ferrari      3 laps
16. retired Nico Rosberg (Germany)          Williams-Toyota     5 laps
17. retired Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy)       Toro Rosso-Ferrari  5 laps
R Nick Heidfeld (Germany)         BMW Sauber         18 laps
R   Takuma Sato (Japan)             Super Aguri-Honda  60 laps
R   David Coulthard (Britain)       RedBull-Renault    73 laps
R   Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)     Honda              73 laps
R   Ralf Schumacher (Germany)       Toyota             73 laps

Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:13.117 on lap 49.

R = retired

 

The Brickyard - USA GP - Preview

Indianapolis Speedway is fundamentally different from the circuit at Montreal, yet both tracks demand a medium downforce level. In Indy that is the result of a tricky compromise. On the oval section you have a 1,860-metre full-throttle section - the longest flat-out stretch to date on the whole F1 calendar. To achieve maximum top speed, you would want to take the Indy oval with a very low wing setting and minimal drag. But with a low-downforce package of the kind BMW Sauber uses in Monza, there wouldn't be nearly enough downforce for the 11 turns in the Indianapolis infield section. If you haven't got sufficient braking stability and traction in these corners, you lose more time than can be gained on the straights. In the infield, where you shift down all the way to first, you want the maximum possible downforce, similar to Monaco or Budapest.

These radically different demands made by the oval and the infield section turn set-up work at Indy into a fine balancing act. It is also worth noting that there are passing opportunities at the end of the straights. And the transition to the infield the track is so wide that it can accommodate a number of possible lines.

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt has suggested that his team will be much more competitive at this weekend's US Grand Prix than it was last time out in Canada.

Furthermore, Raikkonen had several problems. He slightly touched another car at the start (his teammate's), and then he got some parts of a crashed car in the front wing, as you could all see, and that definitely damaged the performance of his car. Raikkonen also had problems with the softer tires he had to use at the end of the race, but not as severe as World Champion Fernando Alonso who finished two places behind.

In spite of Ferrari being 28 points behind McLaren in the championship race, there is still a long way to go.

BMW's Motorsport Director Mario Theissen hopes he can welcome Robert Kubica at Indianapolis as the team's race driver. The Polish driver crashed at the Canadian Grand Prix with a huge impact into the wall. Even though Kubica was knocked out for a moment he was almost fine after spending a night in the hospital in Montreal. 

History and background:

The race teams traveling by truck and bus started arriving Monday evening at Indianapolis. By then those team mates traveling on flights from Canada to the USA, will already be in place and poised to start setting everything up and preparing the cars.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909 as a 2.5-mile oval. Its enduring nickname "Brickyard" derives from the bricks that were used in its construction. 1911 saw the inauguration of the famous 500-mile race associated with the track.

For the Indy 500, cars race on the oval in a counter-clockwise direction. Formula One, on the other hand, runs clockwise and uses only part of the oval. This particular section forms a 1,860-metre full-throttle stint which contrasts with the twisty infield section of the circuit specially built for the debut appearance of Formula One in 2000.

In 2007, Formula One will mark its eighth USA Grand Prix there in succession. The first USA Grand Prix was held in Sebring in 1959 and was won by Bruce McLaren in a Cooper Climax. 1960 saw F1 move to Riverside, then to Watkins Glen the following year, where a total of 20 World Championship races were held up until 1980. Between 1976 and 1983, Formula One also made eight appearances at Long Beach for the Grand Prix USA-West. The 1980s also featured two F1 events in Las Vegas, one in Dallas and seven in Detroit. From 1989 to 1991 Phoenix played host to the USA GP. The 2005 Indianapolis race went down in history after just six cars took part due to tyre problems.

Under the rear wing