Ferrari F1 team principal Frederic Vasseur has praised Robert Kubica’s “extra-terrestrial” abilities behind the wheel of a race car following the Pole’s fantastic win at the Le Mans 24 hours last week, and reminisced of the times they worked together at the Alfa Romeo-Sauber squad back in 2021.
Kubica led the #83 AF Corse Ferrari to victory at the Circuit de La Sarthe last week, in a car that he shared with China’s Yifei Ye and Britain’s Philip Hanson.
Kubica’s “extra-terrestrial” feat despite “chaotic career”
Speaking to print media after last week’s Canadian GP, Vasseur expressed his joy at seeing Kubica win the 24 hours of Le Mans, as he revealed how he has a “close relationship” with the Polish driver, and described him as an “extra-terrestrial” for achieving such a feat given the circumnstances he had to overcome throughout his career:
“I have a close relationship with Robert,” he said. “He stayed with me a couple of years at Alfa Romeo, and before [that] in F3 Formula Renault, and for me he’s an extra-terrestrial.
“What he’s doing is mega, and to win in Le Mans in this situation, and also to be the leader of the car, to push the team and so, it’s something that that I can’t imagine honestly.
“I’m very very pleased for Robert. He had a chaotic career in motorsport and when you see the level of effort that he put into his career, I’m very very pleased for him to have this kind of result.”
An untold story about his “mega” 2021 F1 cameo
Vasseur previously worked with Kubica when the Pole was a reserve and simulator driver for Alfa Romeo-Sauber between 2020 and 2022. The Frenchman shared a fascinating insight into the struggles Kubica had to overcome when he was called at the last minute to sub for Kimi Raikkonen, as the Finn tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the third and final practice session for the 2021 Dutch GP.
He revealed Kubica struggled to initially even get out of the pit lane, in a car that he had never driven before. But his resilience and strength meant he was able to not only finish the race, but fight with the much more competitive Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel until the final lap:
“Each time that I’m discussing [about] Robert, it’s about this guy that jumped into the car for Alfa [Romeo] when Kimi [Raikkonen] got the Covid [in] Zandvoort.
“He had to jump into the car on Saturday morning in Zandvoort, [and] the pit lane is very small, so [initially] he was not able to turn the wheel and to take the clutch.
“Also he hadn’t driven the car of that year, and [despite all of that], this race he was fighting with Seb [Vettel] until the last corner, and this is just mega.”
