The Ferrari F1 signing who never made his debut

Fernando Alonso sat beside Robert Kubica sipping on a drink at the 2007 Italian Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

The Ferrari F1 signing who never made his debut

Robert Kubica's accident was 15 years ago today

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 6 February 2026 19:58

It is 15 years to the day since former F1 star Robert Kubica's horrific accident at the Ronde di Andora rally, an accident which remarkably did not finish his F1 career.

Kubica joined F1 back in 2006, and by 2011 he was at the peak of his racing powers, but unfortunately did not compete in another season of F1 until 2019.

Having claimed his one and only career F1 race victory during the 2008 season with BMW Sauber, Kubica made a big move to two-time constructors' champions Renault in 2010, to race alongside Vitaly Petrov.

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This season did not go to plan for him, however, and he could only finish eighth in the drivers' championship having secured three podiums across the season.

While Kubica was set to stay at Renault for another year in 2011, he had signed with Ferrari for the 2012 season to partner Fernando Alonso. But the Polish racing driver would sadly never get the chance to race in F1 for the Scuderia.

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Kubica's 2011 rally accident

Kubica was racing in the first stage of the Ronde di Andora rally on February 6, 2011, when his Skoda car left the road at high speed and hit a crash barrier. Kubica suffered from compound fractures to his right elbow, shoulder and leg, as well as part of his forearm needing to be amputated.

The Polish racer's co-driver was unscathed by the incident, but Kubica faced lengthy operations to repair fractures to his leg, shoulder and arm, while his hand was thought to be in a bad way, resulting in Kubica missing the whole of the 2011 racing season.

Being just 26 at the time, Kubica recovered remarkably well, and even competed in the Ronde Gomitolo Di Lana in September 2012, an event which he won in a World Rally Championship (WRC) car.

Kubica would then go on to race in the WRC for the next three seasons, as well as part-time in 2016.

Kubica's return to F1

Kubica didn't settle for this remarkable rallying comeback, however, and the Polish racer wanted to one day race in F1 again too!

And he drove an F1 car for the first time since his accident in June 2017, testing the Lotus E20 in a Renault-organised event.

During the remainder of the 2017 season, he tested for both Williams and Renault, with his pace impressive enough to make him one of the favourites to take Felipe Massa's seat at Williams for the 2018 season after the Brazilian had announced his retirement.

That would have been a full circle moment, with Kubica having been pencilled in to take Massa's seat at Ferrari all those years ago before his accident.

But Kubica had to wait another year for his full-time F1 return, after Williams opted to sign Sergey Sirotkin instead, but Kubica became their reserve driver for 2018.

The Polish racer then completed his stunning comeback, being signed as a full-time racer for Williams for the 2019 season, alongside rookie George Russell.

Kubica scored one point that season, and finished above Russell in the drivers' championship, making he and Lewis Hamilton the only two team-mates to have beaten Russell in his career so far.

Kubica was replaced by Nicholas Latifi for 2020, but continued to work in F1 with Alfa Romeo as a reserve driver, stepping in for Kimi Raikkonen at the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix that season, the last occasions in which we have seen Kubica race in an F1 grand prix.