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Robert Kubica says that he felt embarrassed driving the Williams FW41 during the first practice session in Barcelona. The Pole made his first Formula 1 weekend appearance on Friday, taking Sergey Sirotkin's seat for the opening ninety-minute session.
However, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner says that it was a bit of a shock to discover just how poor the car was to drive. He admitted that he was expecting his first practice outing with the struggling team to be difficult, but not as much as it was.
"Coming to Barcelona, I was expecting to be in a difficult situation," he said. "FP1 was even more difficult than expected. It has been a difficult session for us with difficult balance. Some we were expecting but not as bad. It was a bit of a shock for me.
"I felt embarrassed when I was driving inside the car, because it was so difficult and I felt so slow in some places," he added. "But we couldn't do more. This morning, we were slow. But apart from being slow, it was nearly impossible to keep the car on the track. That’s something we need to change, in order to make our drivers’ lives easier."
The Grove team currently lies bottom of the constructor's standings with four points, collected by Lance Stroll two weeks ago in Azerbaijan. Kubica confirmed that he felt comfortable with himself and that it was just the car that was difficult to drive.
"I felt comfortable," he stated. "Although it is difficult to be comfortable in such a difficult balanced car to drive and difficult conditions. That is a good test for me. You need to understand where is your limits and where is the limit of the car.
"In my position when I have to deliver feedback and cannot do silly things, I'm happy by how I reacted to those conditions. I think I did what I was asked and I am happy with what I delivered."
Kubica is set for two further FP1 outings with Williams later this year. The 33-year-old also admitted that he expected more emotions after taking part in his first F1 weekend since the Au Dhabi Grand Prix in 2010.
"For sure it's nice to be in an official session of a Grand Prix weekend but it would be nicer to continue," he said. "I was expecting to have bigger emotions. I had much bigger emotions in the past when I was testing for the first time or even in Abu Dhabi. Although I'm not driving often, it is becoming natural."
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
If anything Kubica made himself look good by beating Stroll by that margin, even if the car was terrible. I know it's testing, but that doesn't keep people from forming opinions without all the information. All I know is that it will be a real shame if Kubica doesn't get another change in F1. I k... [Read more]