Kubica's Recovery

[Giblet]

Keep in mind that the main reason he was fighting for his life Seg was the huge loss of blood from his injuries and the hour it took to extract him. The injuries themselves are not life threatening, assuming they topped up his plasma which I am going to go ahead and assume was not overlooked.

[andrew]

Nobody here knows the exact extent of Robert's injuries. Reports indicate he's mostly out of danger now. He's now in recovery and that could take any length of time, as you say racing is secondary for now, but it's still going to be important to him. Somehow, I don't think he'd appreciate you saying 'His Formula 1 career is over' as you so eloquenty put it earlier in the thread.

Agreed. He is in an induced coma so aside from media releases it is very difficult to determine the implications of this. Sure we all know about his hand being reconstructed but aside from that we know very little.

To say his racing career is over is just plain blind. Was Niki Laudas carerr over after the German GP in 1974? Was Olivier Panis's racing career over after Canada 1998? What about Mika Hakkinen after his crash in Adelaide 1995? Or most recently Massa in Hungary 2009? The point is drivers have survived horrendous accidents and have come back to race in F1. Alex Zanadri races even though he lost both legs and uses hand controls in WTCC!

Stop scare mongering and speculating segedunum. Stick to known facts only.

Kubica's recovery is the priority at the moment. Returning to racing will in all probability not be considered at this moment in time, however I hope once rehabilitated from his injuries he will be back in an F1 car.

[gridwalker]

I gotta say, I'm with Ringo on this : Driving in F1 may be a "job", but it certainly isn't a vocation ... it is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Cheesy? Yes, incredibly, BUT the sacrifices and dedication that it takes to be the best and the tenacity that it takes to keep hanging in for a spot amongst the 24 most elite drivers in the world should bring with them the wisdom not to sacrifice EVERYTHING at the altar of self indulgence.

If you can have everything that millions of fans could ever want, yet still need to endanger yourself (and everything you have built up around you) in the name of letting off steam, maybe you should be in a different profession.

Don't get me wrong : I really love Kubica and would love to see him as champion, but he strikes me as a more charismatic Raikkonen and there was something about Kimi's devil-may-care attitude that always bugged me.

Maybe I'm just jealous of the opportunities granted to the class A of motorsport (which I know I could never be) but I sincerely believe that if somebody showed me enough faith for the lead drive in a championship calibre team then I would do everything in my power to devote all of my energy to making the most of that opportunity.

My heart goes out to Kubica, what happened was a tragedy ... I believe that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time of his own volition, but that doesn't stop me wishing him a swift and complete recovery.

I just hope that he thinks twice before throwing another season down the pan (and I truly hope he gets one).

[Giblet]

Robert never had dreams as a boy of becoming an F1 driver, unlike Hamilton and Vettel. He just loved racing. He never even really thought very hard about F1 until he started winning championships and interest started rolling in. The guy moved to Italy just so he could race, as there was so little circuit racing in Poland.

He was just doing what he loves, and has unfortunately paid a price, but not the ultimate one that so many other drivers have paid.

Maybe his perspective will change, like many middle aged men who decide to get a motorcycle on a whim, wipe out once, and never ride again. But at the same time, doing what he loves is what made him the driver and man he is today, and he wouldn't have got to where he was unless he kept racing.

So in a way, it is kind of hypocritical to say he shouldn't rally. If it wasn't for his willingness to risk everything for the sport he loves, we wouldn't have been blessed with what he has already given us.

He might have just been a tall accountant working for an average company making an average salary and we would never have heard of him, but instead, he raced, and gave is what he did.

You can't have one without the other. You get a racer in Robert Kubica, and Robert Kubica the racer.

[andartop]

As with all things in life taking risks is not black and white. Yes, rallying can be dangerous, but is it more risky than commuting to work by road car or bicycle? Is flying safe enough? Going out on a Saturday night? Living within a 500km radius of a nuclear plant? Walking into a bank?

Colin McRae spent all his life racing and heavily crashing rally cars, bikes, anything with wheels, and in the end we lost him in a tragic helicopter accident.

Robert Kubica is a race driver and he loves to race. He is also an adult.

Whether Robert Kubica should have or shouldn't have gone rallying is only for him to judge.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Definitely giblet.

Kubica is not going to win prizes for interviews, or PR excercises. Some here feel he should sell his soul to the cause simply because he is in F1 and should be grateful for that fact.

RUBBISH.

Senna, my absolute driving god, died doing what he loved. Did he race other formulae? Of course he did, he even had his own kart track which he spent many hours messing about on. He even raced 190E cosworths with other World Champions in 86 around the modern nurburgring.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPXtXzj ... re=related[/youtube]

And this wonderful extract which will have some resonance with the current stiuation on Kubica
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHYt270aYE8&NR=1[/youtube]
They do this for many reasons, but the bottom line is they are racers. By questioning wether they should partake in events other than F1, is like question the integrity of a racing soul.... just dont do it!

[forty-two]

At the risk of going slightly off topic, I feel that this is the best, and most high-profile example of road car manufacturers designing their cars to pass the required safety tests, and not to be inherently safe.

A long time ago I watched a report on this on the Beeb, and they pointed out that (then) a lot of cars were being built with two strong members aligned in front of the driver and passenger designed to absorb head on impacts, either a 90 degree head on into a "deformable concrete barrier" or a 50/50 head on also at 90 degrees. This means that although the car will pass the safety tests with flying colours, any object which is not a car or a flat barrier of considerable size (like the end of a crash barrier for example).

There was for example an episode of "999" (a bit like cops with cameras) which featured a pensioner who'd lost control of his car and hit a fence running parralel to the road he was travelling on end-on. The fence in question was made from upright wooden poles, and horizontal tube, much like scaffolding poles. The poor guy ended up impaled through the abdomen on (thankfully) one tube, which then had to be cut off using a petrol angle cutter. Fortunately, this chap made a full recovery albeit with a nasty pair of scars.

Agreed that here in the UK, barriers such as the one Robert hit are increasingly having their ends changed from being simply bent away from the road or directed into the ground to having flat panels to spread the load. Actually I've spotted a lot of these on motorways (the M4 in particular) where the flat panel has been fitted to both the leading edge and the trailing edge. Initially I thought, perhaps they were preparing us for a switch to driving on the wrong side of the road, but then I realised that they regularly have contra-flows etc. which could cause traffic to drive on the wrong side of the road!

I still see plenty which have a bent end section which is anchored into the ground, but I myself saw the aftermath of a BMW 5 series which had lost it into one of these and ended up wedging itself between the barrier and a bridge upright.... nasty. That made me drive slower for weeks!

As for cable barriers, I've heard bikers refer to those as cheese-wires, because a motorcyclist hitting one ends up emerging in several neat slices. Fortunately, these seem to be mostly replaced with "ribbon" style ones.

I would like to wish Robert a speedy recovery, and console myself with the thought that of all people, being super fit he's probably in a better position to recover quickly than most of us!

[reikorp]

If you can have everything that millions of fans could ever want, yet still need to endanger yourself (and everything you have built up around you) in the name of letting off steam, maybe you should be in a different profession.

Exactly opposite

The reason why he participated in that rally was the very same reason why he's a Formula 1 driver. Instinct to race.

[gridwalker]

At the risk of also being off topic :

As for cable barriers, I've heard bikers refer to those as cheese-wires, because a motorcyclist hitting one ends up emerging in several neat slices. Fortunately, these seem to be mostly replaced with "ribbon" style ones.

Around 5 years ago, a friend of mine had an accident where he got sideswiped by a bus and ended up going through the "cheese wires" : he is now missing half of his right leg ...

Wire barriers are nasty things indeed.

Unfortunately, the technology for keeping us safe will never be as good as the technology for propelling us faster than nature intended. It is the nature of the beast, but a risk that we are all willing to take in one form or another.

If you can have everything that millions of fans could ever want, yet still need to endanger yourself (and everything you have built up around you) in the name of letting off steam, maybe you should be in a different profession.

Exactly opposite

The reason why he participated in that rally was the very same reason why he's a Formula 1 driver. Instinct to race.

I still can't but help but think that he should have acted in a manner that would protect the investment of those who would pay him to race machinery that the majority of us can only ever dream of : if being paid millions to race in "the pinnacle of motorsport" isn't enough for you, then what will be?

Sure, I appreciate the concept of the "racer's soul" but F1 is now a multi billion dollar industry and there are very few top-jobs where recklessly endangering your capability in extra-curricular activities would be tolerated.

In this thread, someone has made a comparison to Senna racing in lower formulae during the 80s : The budgets, salaries and marketing opportunities of days gone bye were peanuts compared to what is being poured into the sport in modern times.

When you sign a contract for a top flight race team, you may not be selling your soul but you will be selling marketing rights to your identity.

I cannot criticise his passion, his motivation or his decision, but I can question the wisdom of his actions : if your passion for a dangerous pastime overrides your concern for protecting your multi-million dollar job (in essentially the same pursuit) then maybe you should consider a role where dozens of companies, hundreds of people and millions of dollars aren't resting on your performance ...

Still, that is irrelevant : what is important is that Robert makes a full and swift recovery.

I'd still like to see him become the first Polish world champion.

[ringo]

Exactly opposite

The reason why he participated in that rally was the very same reason why he's a Formula 1 driver. Instinct to race.

Mclaren's Policy : Keep your ass quiet and drive the F1 car like your supposed to you hear me boy!!
*walks out and slams office door*

That's how it should be. Too much money on the table for a busy body driver to be going around risking the season.

[nipo]

I think he must have received approval from his team to race in other categories, so arguing over here whether he should be rallying or not is pretty pointless. His employers agreed to it and should have understood the risks. If there's anyone to blame, it's the team, not the driver.

In my view Kubica still has a lot to prove in F1. He has shown some might in his early days, and was even a hero to me when he ousted JV (who talked more than he drove), taking the race seat and scoring points straight away. Also last year he has shown maturity by being very consistent and doing a very solid job. However some have correctly pointed out that he did have some uninteresting seasons where he struggled to show the upperhand against Heidfeld. Some argue he's of champion calibre, others claim he's just a very good also-ran. I think we still have to see him in the right machinery to prove what he's really worth.

For that I hope Robert's F1 career won't just end like this (it is foolish and sad), but I somehow feel that this is a possibility.

On the other hand, I read the news suggesting Renault could be considering somebody other than to just use their 3rd driver Senna? I think Senna should at least get a shot at it...

[lotus7]

Can't recall Sandro Nannini's name coming up in the context of this thread. He raced for Benneton in F1, even won a race when Senna was dq'd for outside assistance
His right arm was completely severed in a helicopter crash, but re-attached. Sadly he never gained proper use of his hand and never raced F1 again . Drove with some success for Alfa Romeo in European Touring cars

[mx_tifoso]

I was going through a month or two old issue of the F1 magazine and saw the piece on Kubica and his other "passion". Who would have thought that he'd make huge news again but this time from an accident doing just that.

[ParanoiD]

I was going through a month or two old issue of the F1 magazine and saw the piece on Kubica and his other "passion". Who would have thought that he'd make huge news again but this time from an accident doing just that.

i got that too, very nice article, what an irony when he got the accident

[Richard]

Gosh, what a bitchy thread. Thanks MX for tidying up the worst parts

Shame, because there is a discussion to be had about safety in rallying. They use public roads and this accident shows that public roads can never be as safe as a track.