26/11/2017
NEWS STORY
Ahead of this week's test with Williams, as part of his plan to return to F1 full-time seven years after almost losing his life in a rallying accident, Robert Kubica has had only one outing in a contemporary F1 car.
Prior to his test with the Renault RS17 in the summer, the Pole had been restricted to a 2014 car, while his two outings for Williams, at Silverstone and the Hungaroring, were also in a 2014 car.
While the Pole's determination is without question, the one big question on everyone's mind ahead of the test, and one of the main factors that will decide whether he is to return, is his fitness.
Quite simply, having almost had his hand severed, and suffered the trauma that went with it, is the 32-year-old fit enough to race contemporary F1 machinery at the highest level over the course of a full season. Furthermore, assuming he has the fitness, will he still have the necessary skills and speed?
Talking to the media in Abu Dhabi, FIA president, Jean Todt, said he is confident that Kubica is up to the challenge. Other than Williams assessing his on-track abilities, the FIA's experts will be assessing his physical fitness for F1, and their decision could be final.
"We have expert people there, and I am sure all necessary steps will be done if we have to face the situation," said Todt. "Drivers, they come and they leave, and of course Kubica is different because the reason he had to stop was that he had a very bad rally crash. He survived it and he came back into the business in rallying.
"Now he is in single-seaters, so time will tell. But clearly, we have all the standards to give the medical checks, so it up to the doctors to decide."
While Williams is said to be close to signing the Pole, a move that would be a tremendous publicity boost for the sport, it is understood that despite several tests, Renault remained unconvinced that Kubica was ready to return.
While Kubica has successfully passed the mandatory cockpit extraction test, albeit without the Halo device fitted, any full-time return to the F1 grid will require a far more thorough medical examination by the FIA's experts.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Yas Island, here.