2013 - F1 has been a big part of my life," he confirms. "I still follow it, but it's not easy to watch. The best things is not to think about it or, for sure, your mood goes down. Yes, I would 1.000 times prefer to be there than here, but I cannot be there on the grid. I cannot do anything. The accident happened.
Life is going on. I'm just lucky I'm able to drive and able to drive competitive racing cars."
"Rallying has helped me to not think too much about F1 and life before the accident".
"I still believe I can come back", he says in a voice devoid of wishful thinking,
"It's not just a dream. Right now I have limitations with driving single-seaters, but they are less than they look from the outside. Things are improving. It wasn't like this six months ago and it wasn't like this three months ago.. And thanks to rallies and tests on the race track, slowly my condition is improving, but there's still a long way to go".
Kubica explains how in private testing he found the main physical impairment is to his right forearm and wrist. This, he says, is overcome relatively easily in a roomy rally car, as he can compensate with shoulder movement. But in the shrink-wrapped confines of an F1 car, the space to allow this kind of complementary twist would almost certainly not be available.
"When I have two arms on the steering wheel and I can operate everything on it, I don't notice a difference, he says.
"The strength in the arm is not what it was, but if that was the only problem then two months in the gym could solve it."
"The bigger problem is the limitation in the supination and pronation (rotational turning movement) of the arm and he limited functionaly in my fingers. But I'm convinced that this will come back slowly; nerves need a lot of time and I see progress even if it's slow. I am quite sure this will be...not fixed, but not a big problem."
"When I drive it takes concentration and I forget my body's limitations, " Kubica says.
"With the damage I have, I cannot achieve 100 per cent of what I had before, but I hope to improve. If the limited pronation and supination were fixed 80 per cent, I would say "yes" to coming back to F1."
"With the damage I have, I cannot achieve 100 per cent of what I had before, but I hope to improve. If the limited pronation and supination were fixed 80 per cent, I would say "yes" to coming back to F1."
