PODCAST: Kubica still 'paying a price' for desire to improve

He was regarded as one of the greatest drivers of his generation. And then he was struck down in his prime, a rallying accident not only costing him his F1 career in the short-term, but almost his life. So what drove Robert Kubica to go rallying in the first place? That’s one of the topics covered by the man himself in this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, our new weekly podcast.

“I was searching for something away from Formula 1 which would make me become a better Formula 1 driver,” revealed Kubica, currently Williams' reserve driver, in a wide-ranging and candid conversation with host Tom Clarkson.

“I was trying to learn things that the other drivers I was racing… they don’t have it. I still think, in some circumstances and conditions, thanks to rallying, which I was doing very little, I scored more points in 2010 than if I had not done it.

“[I learned] sensitivity. Many times it happened that I didn’t stop to put intermediates on – I kept going on slicks. Everyone else was coming [into the pits] and I gained massive positions. Those things you cannot see. The only one who can judge and can understand is yourself, because sensitively and sensibility on the steering wheel, only the driver can know what he needs.

“It’s true that I paid a big price – and I’m still paying it. But it was not purely for fun. There was something behind it. I was not talking about it. But probably what really happened is that the desire to become a better driver, a more complete driver, the desire of finding something which others they don’t have or that I can improve... I think at every moment we can learn something.

“The desire to become even better – I was not happy to be as good as I was. I needed more. And I thought rallying would give me this. And it really gave me – the problem is I paid too high a price...”

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