Robert Kubica names F1 rival who could win races without having the fastest car

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Robert Kubica was one of the fastest Formula 1 drivers of his generation and extremely unlucky that he only recorded a single victory during his career.

F1’s only-ever Polish driver was brought into the sport by BMW Sauber in 2006 before a single season with Renault.

However, an awful rallying accident in 2011 followed by a leg break the following year appeared to bring an end to his Formula 1 career.

Kubica later revealed that he had a deal to race for Ferrari in 2012, as per Autosport, but he was unable to fulfil the role.

Amazingly, Kubica returned to the grid in 2019 with Williams and then as a substitute driver with Alfa Romeo two years later.

Kubica admitted his stint at Williams was a mistake given the awful state of the car, but he proved that despite the injuries sustained during his rallying crash, he was still able to race against some of the greatest F1 drivers.

Speaking on the Motorsport Brazil YouTube channel, Kubica was talking about the best drivers he raced against during his Formula 1 peak.

The 39-year-old faced several world champions during his time but he admits many of them benefitted from having the fastest cars on the grid.

Kubica believes that Fernando Alonso was the driver who could win races regardless of whether or not he had the quickest car.

He admits that the Spaniard was very unlucky not to win more championships and cited his spell at Ferrari as the indicator that he was one of the greatest racers he faced.

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Robert Kubica hails Fernando Alonso’s Formula 1 career

Asked about the drivers he still admires on the F1 grid, Kubica said: “I will mention three drivers, Max, Fernando and Lewis for different reasons.

“For me, Fernando has always been a person who can win races without having the car.

“I think against 90% of the grid can win the race with a winning car, especially if the gap is big.

“But when Fernando was with Ferrari and he was keeping the fight up in the championship up to the last race, it was like yeah.

“There are drivers who won titles which I think they were not capable of doing this but they still win it because the car was just better than the others.

“As always, you need a bit of luck but they say that the luck follows the best ones so this is part of the game.”

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Fernando Alonso looks unlikely to add to his F1 victories this season

Alonso and Kubica could have ended up being teammates at Ferrari in 2012 if Kubica had recovered fully from his injuries.

The Spaniard stayed with the team until the end of the 2014 season, while Felipe Massa moved on the year before.

Alonso has been racing in F1 for decades and already committed his future to Aston Martin into the new set of regulations in 2026.

However, Alonso is getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress Aston Martin are making this season.

Their update packages don’t appear to be making the car quicker and Alonso was furious in Hungary with how qualifying transpired.

Kubica may have seen Alonso win plenty of races without possessing the best car on the grid, but Aston Martin’s AMR24 is asking too much of him right now.