Kubica: “the weekend will be difficult”

Except at the end of the opening round in Bahrain, Robert Kubica and Renault had always managed to reach the finish and score points. But on July 11, at Silverstone, the Pole, although in the running, was forced to retire on the 19th lap. A cruel disillusionment that the ex-BMW driver hopes to forget this weekend, during the German Grand Prix, on a track which should better suit his car.

“It is a circuit which has a greater range of turns, says Kubica. Two of them are taken at a very high speed, No. 1 and 12. The others are taken at a medium or low speed. The track surface is very smooth, so you have to extract the maximum mechanical grip from the car. The circuit also has a long straight and we will have to make sure that the car has a good top speed. All the cars we are fighting against use the F-duct and that makes our job difficult. We may have to reduce our level of downforce to remain competitive on the straights, but that would penalize us in the corners. We will have to find the best compromise on Friday. »

But the R30 still not having adopted the latest technical findings, Kubica expects to suffer somewhat on the German track.

“As usual, I will try to extract as much as possible from the car, He continues. Most of the teams we play against use the F-duct and the blown diffuser. I think the weekend will therefore be difficult. We will have to ensure that our performance is much better than at Silverstone. But if this last race must be described as difficult when we could have finished 4th or 5th, then it?s not so terrible! »

In the championship, the 3.5 Formula Renault 2005 Series champion is currently seventh, seven points behind Rosberg and fifteen behind.Alonso. In addition to confirming the progress made since Bahrain, this second part of the season should serve the diamond brand and its No. 1 driver as preparation for 2011, where the objectives will certainly be higher than this year.

Find a file on the Renault F1 team and an exclusive interview with Gérard Lopez in your AUTOhebdo magazine on newsstands tomorrow.