Beating Fernando Alonso at Ferrari ‘wouldn’t have been difficult’ for F1 race winner

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Robert Kubica believes it ‘would not have been difficult’ to beat Fernando Alonso as teammates at Ferrari had the Pole joined the Scuderia in the 2012 Formula 1 season.

The 39-year-old was once among Formula 1’s great hopes over a gifted spell racing for BMW Sauber. Kubica even threatened to emerge as a title rival for Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and Felipe Massa at Ferrari in 2008. He led the championship after Kubica won the Canadian GP.

Kubica’s talents continued to grow to the point that Ferrari sought to pair him with Alonso in place of Massa. But an accident whilst competing at the 2011 Andorra rally left Kubica facing a very different future. He would not return to F1 until joining Williams for the 2019 season.

Robert Kubica agreed an F1 contract to join Fernando Alonso at Ferrari

Kubica suffered life-threatening injuries from the crash during the 2011 F1 off-season. It also cost him a chance to join Ferrari. The first and so far only Polish Formula 1 driver revealed in 2018 that Ferrari signed Kubica to partner Alonso in 2012 once his Renault contract expired.

But his career would be a case of ‘what if’ with the 2008 Canadian GP proving to be Kubica’s only race win in Formula 1. He also only took one pole position at the 2008 Bahrain GP while racing for BMW Sauber. His best championship finish was also Kubica’s fourth place in 2008.

Alonso was already a two-time F1 champion when Ferrari signed Kubica to be the Spaniard’s teammate from 2012. The 42-year-old won the title with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and took third place in 2007 with McLaren. He also came second in 2010 in his first season for Ferrari.

The Oviedo native also finished second in the 2012 and 2013 drivers’ standings, missing out to Sebastian Vettel both times. Alonso saw his bid to take the title in 2012 fall short by three points. He has also not won a race since the 2013 Spanish GP despite entering a record 380.

Robert Kubica says he could have beaten Fernando Alonso as teammates

Alonso still continues to thrive, though, and secured eight podiums during his first season at Aston Martin in 2023. Kubica also called Alonso ‘the strongest of all’ of the current F1 grid in November. But the Pole is confident he could have beaten the Spaniard in equal machinery.

“Alonso and I at Ferrari? I’ve always respected Fernando and I still respect him very much,” Kubica told Gazzetta dello Sport. “When we raced in F1, the esteem was mutual.

“It is often said that for a driver, his teammate is the first opponent to beat. Instead, I have always thought that to win you have to beat everyone, including your teammate.

“Beat Fernando with the same car? It wouldn’t have been difficult. In any case, I would have liked to experience this challenge. We think the same way about many things and having two drivers who get along in the garage is an advantage for a team.”