The happy ending to a story that never happened

A story that began all the way back in 2012 finally has a satisfying conclusion, as Robert Kubica finally is a big winner for Ferrari. Of course we’re talking about their endurance racing team at Le Mans, but a pleasing ending to a difficult story.

Robert Kubica could well have been a Ferrari legend in Formula 1 for all we know. He had signed a deal to race for the Scuderia from 2012 but a rally crash in Andorra brought the curtain down on his competitive Formula 1 career in 2011.

📸 Kubica’s rally accident aftermath certainly isn’t pleasant viewing.

The Pole crashed on the Ronde di Andorra rally, the front of his car being pierced open by a piece of barrier, missing co driver Jakub Gerber but causing serious injuries to the then F1 driver.

A partial arm amputation, a significant blood loss, several arm and leg fractures, followed by a seven hour surgery meant Kubica missed the 2011 F1 season, but he escaped the crash with his life.

He returned to racing in 2012, going back to rally cars, before building his career back up through F1 and Formula E tests, and racing sports cars - returning to F1 in the 2019 season with Williams, lasting a year as Williams were going through a rough patch.

📸 Multiple F1 tests eventually led to an F1 comeback, after almost a decade away.

Bar a handful of FP1 appearances for Alfa Romeo and covering a COVID-19 stricken Kimi Räikkönen and Monza and Zandvoort, Kubica left F1 behind and moved full time to sports cars.

📸 Kubica eventually left F1 after 99 race starts, but who knows how many he’d have managed without his 2011 accident.

This weekend, that move has paid off. Driving in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Chinese driver Yifei Ye and and Brit Phillip Hanson in the no.83, Kubica led the AF Corse team to victory, winning by 15 seconds ahead of the next car and capping nicely a story that should have started some 13 years ago.

Gratulacje, Robert. Finally, a win for Ferrari!

📸 Image credits: AF Corse, Robert Kubica, Formula Motorsport Limited, World Endurance Championship.