Robert Kubica is a name which engenders strong emotion amongst all motorsport fans.
Seen as one of car racing’s most prodigious talents in the early 2000s, the Polish driver burst onto the Formula One circuit with BMW-Sauber in 2006.
Having claimed a first career win in 2008 at the Canadian Grand Prix and signing a contract to join F1’s most coveted team, Ferrari, Kubica’s world was turned upside down in 2011 following a serious and near-fatal crash.
Competing at the Ronde di Andora rally championship, the Pole was left trapped in his car for over an hour after colliding with a metal barrier at high speed.
Suffering from significant blood loss, the then-26-year-old underwent a life-saving seven-hour operation in which he had a partial amputation of his forearm. Further operations followed, with Kubica also suffering severe injuries to his right elbow, shoulder and leg.
Lucky to escape with his life, his motorsport career was seemingly over.
However, this past weekend and more than 14 years later, Kubica completed what is perceived by many to be the greatest motorsport comeback of all time, winning the iconic 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race.
In doing so, he became just the second driver this century to win both an F1 grand prix and Le Mans, joining Fernando Alonso.
“As an endurance racer, this is the highest goal you can achieve. It is the Olympic Games of motorsport, so I am honoured to have won such an event,” Kubica, who was driving for AF Corse alongside Great Britain’s Phil Hanson and China’s Yifei Ye, told CNN Sports.
“I was a bit surprised by all the attention I got after winning it. From fans, from media – I didn’t know so many people had my phone number.
“Even people who aren’t into racing text(ed) me, which shows the regard Le Mans is held in. I think we can compare it to the biggest events in sport, and certainly motorsport.”
On social media, some fans have likened Kubica’s ascent back to the top of racing to a Hollywood movie.
“This makes sense to me that people on the outside would think that,” he said. “But what they don’t see is all the difficult moments and tough times.
“After my accident, I had hard weeks, months, even years, where I struggled to adapt and come to terms with what had happened. Those were very difficult periods in my life and I’m fortunate to have been able to work my way through them.”
Reflecting on those periods where he struggled to come to terms with losing out on his dream F1 move to Ferrari, Kubica believes that his strong will power guided him through.
“There were many moments where I could have cracked,” he said.
“But the key for me was that I always had a very strong character. Sometimes before the accident this was probably an obstacle in my life, but during those tough and difficult periods, it certainly helped me.”
It is this attitude which Kubica feels helped him so much with his clearly successful transition into the world of endurance racing from F1.
Having battled back following his initial rehab and working his way up through the racing circuit, Kubica ultimately managed to reclaim an F1 seat in 2019 for Williams Racing.
After what he described himself as a “tricky return, to put it kindly,” he felt he had other challenges in motorsport to conquer, therefore beginning his shift towards the endurance world.
“The strength of character certainly helped me when joining endurance racing’, Kubica said.
The 99-race veteran added that the requirement to compete as part of a team unit often proves too much of an obstacle for many F1 drivers looking to enter endurance racing.
“As drivers in F1 or F2 or even as early as karting as a kid, we are told that our biggest enemy is our teammate, that we need to beat them no matter what,” said Kubica. “But racing in endurance, there is a need to work as a team and not be the star.”
With races ranging from six to 24 hours long, Kubica has shared the driving responsibilities in AF Corse’s Porsche Hypercar this season with Hanson and Ye.
“My teammates will probably tell you that I can be a little hard on them sometimes but that just comes from my will to win. We actually all get on really well,” he said.
“The biggest thing for me is that I already feel fulfilled as a driver. I have raced in F1 already and don’t have that urge to act in my own self-interest to try and impress a manufacturer.
“It’s not that I don’t want to perform well, of course I’m doing everything I can to do that. But I don’t have to do it at the cost of my teammates.
“For younger drivers, there is a risk that you lose focus of what is the most important thing. In endurance, that is to put your teammates in the best possible position, and sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself in order to do that.”
On Thursday, Kubica returned to Poland to a hero’s welcome. Already a national favourite for his exploits in F1, he cemented his legacy as one of the nation’s sporting greats by becoming its first Le Mans champion.
“I had people coming up to me and telling me how they had no interest in racing at all but that they sat and watched the final moments of the race with family and friends,” Kubica explained.
“I even had one woman come up to me and tell me how she burst into tears as I crossed the finish line. It really seems to have been a moment which has gone far beyond sport for not only motorsport fans, but Polish people in general.”
As for what comes next for the man once described by Lewis Hamilton as one of the top five drivers in the world, Kubica said that whatever the venture is, it will be fuelled by passion.
“This morning I woke up and I’m already thinking about what is next, about what is possible and what I’d like to do,” the 40-year-old said.
“What is possible? I don’t know. But one thing that is for sure is that I will do whatever I would like to do, and not what pays me most money in my pocket or what will bring me the most fame.”
He added: “Knowing myself, the next thing will not be easy. It must be a challenge and an adventure for me.
“That might be trying to come back and win Le Mans again but we’ll see. I just want to try and continue to chase my passion and enjoy everything that comes with that.”
Many may expect a veteran racer such as Kubica to drive off into the sunset following such a momentous career crescendo.
But for the Pole, as long as that passion for the sport is still burning, he will find it hard to walk away.
“My passion has brought me to where I am today. I don’t know if I’d have made it back from the accident if it weren’t for the drive it gives me,” Kubica said.
“It would have been easy to just say to myself, ‘OK, I made it to F1 already so I won’t risk driving again.’
“But in the end, my passion was too great to let that happen and even now, I can still feel it there at the same levels it was at when I first started karting as a small kid.”
For the time being, before the ultimate decision on his racing future is made, Kubica still has half a season of the World Endurance Championship to complete.
“I always say we have no control over the future and can just influence what is happening now,” he said. “So for the next few months, I am solely thinking about each race as it comes.
“Hopefully, one day, there will be a time where I can look back on all that I’ve done, and there will be a lot of emotions when I do. But for now, I am focusing on making more of these moments which can last forever’.
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