Robert Kubica in Free Practice 1 with Alfa Romeo in Barcelona

The stables of Formula 1 will entrust their steering wheel to the reserves this Friday afternoon, during Free Practice 1 of the Barcelona Grand Prix, sixth round of the F1 world championship. Pole Robert Kubica will drive the Alfa Romeo C42, nice surprise at the start of the season, instead of Guanyu-Zhou. The former BMW-Sauber driver (2006-2009), Renault (2010) et Williams (2019) had participated in pre-season testing, already on the Barcelona circuit. He had also driven with the C42 ofHinwil at Imola, following the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix last month, during testing for Pirelli.

“These fresh memories of car will allow the experienced Pole to maximize this one-hour session to the fullest, providing the team with the excellent technical feedback that makes Robert an invaluable asset to the Alfa Romeo F1 Team,” the team writes. Robert Kubica, 37, will then return the wheel to Guanyu Zhou for the second free practice session. Kubica's appearance in EL2 in Barcelona is not one of the two mandatory tests that F1 teams must grant to young rookie drivers, as Nyck de Vries with Williams or Jüri Vips with Red Bull. In the case of Alfa Romeo, Theo Pourchaire would be the pilot concerned by this obligation.

Last season, Robert Kubica participated in two Grand Prix (Netherlands and Italy) replacing Kimi Raikkonen, who was positive for Covid-19.