Oh yes, Robert Kubica is back in a Formula One car

Tremendous news: Robert Kubica is back in a Formula One car. The 32-year old Pole completed a 115-lap test in a Renault-painted and powered Lotus E20 F1 racer at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo. And being a 2012-spec car powered by a naturally aspirated V8 engine, it sounded good. 

In case you don’t remember his F1 days, Kubica showed massive promise in a fairly uncompetitive BMW Sauber car, but is mainly infamous for a monumental accident at the 2007 Canadian GP than his seven podiums and one win at the Canadian GP a year later. 

After one season with Renault, Kubica moonlighted in rallying ahead of the 2011 F1 season, but suffered severe injuries to his right hand and arm after a crash on the first stage of the Ronde di Andora rally. He didn’t race again until September 2012, when he won the Ronde Gomitolo Di Lana rally. Since then, he’s rallied and completed LMP1 and Formula E testing, but his day out with Renault was his first crack at an F1 car in six years. 

However, don’t get your hopes up for a return to the series. Renault has said it was just a one-off, and Kubica said he had ‘mixed feelings’ about the day, saying: “I am proud with what I achieved today, but also it shows what I have lost. I don’t know what the future will bring, but I know one thing, after working for more than one year to prepare for this, I ran with good pace and consistent in difficult conditions. It is not easy after six years, but I knew I could do the job and I can be satisfied.”

Regardless of where his career takes him next, getting back into a Formula One car after suffering what could have been a career-ending injury and pumping in two grand prix-worth of laps is a stupendous achievement. Well done that man.