Robert Kubica lacks the desired confidence ahead of Melbourne

In two weeks, the Australian Grand Prix, first round of the World Championship F1 2019, will be completed and will have allowed Robert Kubica to make his long-awaited return to the discipline.

The pilot Williams, seriously injured in rally in February 2011, was able to rediscover the atmosphere of pre-season testing for two weeks in Barcelona, ​​but in a very particular context for the Grove team.

The FW42 missed the first two days of running on February 18 and 19, before the structure founded by Frank Williams stopped chasing time to discover its car 2019, and try to prepare as best as possible for the Australian meeting.

The course of the last day on Friday was also modified prematurely, as explained by Paddy Lowe, technical director of Williams.

“The long relays of the afternoon were unfortunately interrupted, because a number of key body parts had reached a stage of degradation such that neither we nor Robert learned anything about the car.

We therefore decided to spend our time rehearsing the procedures for the race (starts, refueling, etc.) that we must complete before Australia.

This car had finally become too “tired” to continue. In order to preserve our resources for Australia, we felt it was right to modify the plan.

In general the car is not at its best and this affected our performance especially this morning (Friday) with Robert during the qualifying simulation and to some extent with George on Thursday. »

A situation that Robert Kubica logically deplores, who will have to approach Australia without the desired preparation.

“It is a shame to end testing with such a difficult day before the first race, admits the Pole. On the relays that we completed, we managed to learn certain things, but It didn't give me the level of confidence I would have liked. before Australia.

It wasn't the day I was hoping for after the delay during testing, but you have to make the most of these difficult situations. »

Discover the results of the F1 2019 winter tests, carried out by our special correspondents in Catalonia, in issue 2206 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.