Obszerny wywiad.
Kubica: "Everything will be decided in December ..."
This season, Robert Kubica, recovering from last year's accident in the Italian mini-rally, began again to please the fans with his performances.
Since the beginning of this year, the name of the ex-Formula 1 driver periodically appeared next to some tests, and in September a Pole came at the start of Italian Rally Ronde Gomitolo di Lana driving a Subaru Impreza WRC, winning immediately after. A few days later, Robert started at another stage, but did not get to finish.
Dwell on that Robert did not: this month, is already driving a specially modified Citroen C4 WRC, he first won Rally di Como, and a week later almost repeated his triumph at the Rallye du Var. Unfortunately for many, the error resulted in the navigator on the penultimate special stage outright this rally.
However, and this trouble does not upset the 27-year pilot: Robert is now considering his next steps in motorsport career ... and is in talks with the teams parti(pipi)ating in the World Rally Championship.
At that time, as the Formula 1 race season ends in Brazil, you have decided to start on the Rallye du Var, the final round of the championship of France. Probably, it is difficult to be here when all the action takes place over the ocean?
RK: No, I have no problem because I did not leave on the steps of Formula 1. Apart from one or two races that I missed because of being busy, I've been watching the progress of the championship on TV. However, there is one unpleasant feeling ...
Disappointment?
RK: No, that's not it. Just a very hard time dealing with the fact that once lost a favorite thing, which is so laid out - and even more sad that you are so depended on things which are out of your control. That feeling does not want to leave me.
You know, today it was much more difficult to follow Formula 1 on television than a year ago. Then I was very ill, the operations were going, one after another, and I was more concerned about how to bounce back and recover from injuries. Formula 1 at the time I was interested in the least.
But when I got back behind the wheel - in the simulator, the car the car GT or regular car - and I realized that my speed remains the same ... That's when it all started. Now it’s not so easy for me to follow the Formula 1 as a spectator. Well, the way it is.
What do you think when you watch the race on TV? Have thoughts that life is unfair?
RK: No. Let's just say I miss racing. This is my biggest problem, from which I suffer most. While I’m busy rallying and tests on the track, I'm not thinking about it, I'm distracted by all this. But when I'm on a Sunday evening after the race, being at home, I think I'm living a boring and monotonous life.
On the other hand, you cannot get out of life everything what you desire. I'm happy about where I am today. I need to work on, to fight. It will take some share of luck that recovery goes faster. I am getting better, but you need a lot of time to fully recover.
When you started thinking about how to return to the competition?
RK : I, frankly, even could not imagine that I will not return. Quite the contrary - I was convinced that once again I’d go out to the startline. True, I was hoping that soon I will sit behind the wheel of the F1 car, but, unfortunately, it did not work.
When you first got back behind the wheel?
RK: For the first time behind the wheel of a race car, I returned in August 2011.
What was the car?
RK: My rally Renault Clio S1600. Long ago, it turns out. By the time I underwent a series of operations, and could not stay long at the wheel. I tried it once - and then for a month and a half, I didn’t even try to get close to the car.
But to return to the highest level you need to constantly train, you need a lot of time behind the wheel. Now I'm doing this and in the last three months my results have improved markedly, and I hope that I can continue in the same spirit.
What are the physical limitations? What you can do behind the wheel, and what not?
RK: I would say that I am more constrained in daily life than in driving a car. I had to learn to use the left hand to operate freely with all the switches and buttons on the dashboard. A right hand is strong enough to hold the steering wheel. Movement is still somewhat limited, but I get to drive one right hand.
I used to train at home. I used to hold the steering wheel with my left hand, and now I have to do it my right hand. Six months ago, it caused some problems, but today I'm happy with how my body has adapted to it - and even I found my own way to go through a corner. Incredible how the human brain and the body can adapt to the circumstances.
What is the biggest problem? The weakness of the hand?
RK: No, this is just fine. If it was only about the power, it could be fixed by some training at the gym. The main problem is – the mobility of the elbow and wrist. I find it difficult to move my arm.
This problem manifested itself after a few months after the accident. The first five months was not so bad. I had several operations that were to improve this issue, but they failed to any give spectacular result.
there will be another operationas ?
RK: Maybe yes, maybe not, we'll see. The problem is that any surgery does not pass without a trace to the body. There is always a risk that a new operation will lead to more complications than bring the desired effect. Need to evaluate the risk.
Does this mean that Formula 1 is closed for you now?
RK: If I can move my arm again, there is a chance that I will return. But until that happens, the return is delayed. Well, except that in Formula 1 will increase the width of the cockpit twice, or I grow up to 20 cm .. No, F1 soon - for me no chance.
Than what would you prefer instead?
RK: I do not know - but I will make a decision very soon! My name still means something, so it would be relatively easy to find a place in the touring championship series or GT. If I choose this path, I can count on good results - after all, I have my twenty-year experience of playing on the truck.
But if we talk about the rally, there will be a completely different approach - if only because the experience of playing in this dis(pipi)line, I’m practically nobody. Immediately I have to forget about any ambitions and spend two or three years out to study and gradually rise to the highest level.
It will be very difficult, but it will depend on the opportunities that I will have. At the rally, I can say no, and the experience I believe that there is. Get an original place in a factory team will be not so easy.
However, at the request of Ford International Automobile Federation has given special permission to modify their car's transmission to your own resources. Good evidence that producers are interested in you. Citroen, again ...
RK: All true. True, exclusion from FIA works team beat out Ford, and now in the World Cup will be only partial M-Sport - and it is great difference. However, I am negotiating with M-Sport and Citroen about possible cooperation, but have not decided yet which dis(pipi)line I want to perform. While the decision is not accepted, building any plans is just pointless. However, it has to be solved quickly - the new season is “on the nose”.
You talked about the highest level. Aiming at next year's World Rally Championship?
RK: No, no, it's not about that. If I really take for the rally, the 2013 season will be the training, without any specific goal - except experience. It will be necessary to drive as many miles as possible. In this championship, much depends not on technology but on the experience, knowledge of the nature of a stage.
If next year I start in the World Rally Championship, it does not mean that I am prepared to have to fight for good results. This means that I am going to take place in this dis(pipi)line for two or three years. In general, we are now negotiating. All will be decided in December.
What criteria will you consider when making a choice?
RK: It will depend on opportunities offered to me. I do not want to spend a year in the World Rally Championship only to find out in November that I have no idea what to do in 2014. If I choose to rally, it should be a complete program for two or three years, that I can learn and improve their results.
Perhaps result at Rallye du Var affects your choice and tipped in favor of the rally?
RK: Hardly. Yes, it sounds strange. On the one hand I am very pleased with the speed that was shown in this rally, but on the other hand is not so easy to change dis(pipi)line, knowing that your speed is still there.
Although you can make things simple and admit that driving racing cars is over. Now I cannot do what I did in Formula 1 before the accident so I must choose a new direction, make the next step in my career. We'll see.
How do you manage to be so optimistic after what you went through?
RK: Well, I'm not so much an optimist as you think! It's just that people have such impression, when I talk with them.
In general, it is difficult to explain. I just do not want to delve into what happened to me, to think about what I went through, and such . We have to live with what have - we do not have a choice .
Last year, right after the accident, I said that I was happy that I survived. You know, when you get to the hospital and see people who have no chance at all, you start to take life differently.
Very often we do not appreciate what we have. When all goes well, and everything is in order with us, we’d find the opportunity to complain about the bad weather. But when you are attached to a hospital bed, where you cannot even get up, you do not care to go outside let it rain or not. Even the simplest things bring you happiness.
In such moments, you start to appreciate and enjoy what you have. Even if it's not what you've dreamed of.'
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