Kubica thrilled to be fighting at the front for Renault 31 Aug 2010
Renault’s Robert Kubica is in a buoyant mood after clinching his third podium of the year at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Although he could have finished in second, if he hadn’t made a mistake during his final pit stop, Kubica left Spa-Francorchamps feeling pleased with his third-place finish and the performance of his R30, which was running with an F-duct system for the first time.
“It was a really incredible race, but also a difficult race because of the changeable conditions and it was very easy to make mistakes,” he said in his blog on Renault’s official website. “I didn’t make any big mistakes on the track, but unfortunately I made one in the pit lane, which cost me second place. But third place is still a very good result for the whole team and I think it’s a very nice reward for all the guys in the factory and at the track for all their hard work recently."
Despite characteristically unsettled weather at the Belgian circuit, Kubica’s entire Spa weekend had been encouraging. Not only did the Polish driver finish all three practice sessions in the top five, he also took third on the grid after outpacing Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel by over two hundredths of a second during qualifying.
“We were fighting with the McLaren and the Red Bull drivers so I’m really pleased about the performance of the car," Kubica added. "In fact, we had great pace all weekend and whatever the conditions we were always in the top five. And finally we got the F-duct on the car, which was working really well and gave us a big improvement with our pace. I was very happy to be fighting at the front with the big teams so let’s hope we can continue in this direction.”
With his haul of 15 points from Spa, Kubica has moved into seventh in the drivers’ standings. Renault, meanwhile, have retained their fifth place in the constructors’ table and are now just 23 adrift of fourth-placed team Mercedes GP.
