From: Renault's 'secret plan' to race Kubica at Spa | PlanetF1 : PlanetF1 : Although Renault assured Palmer that his seat was safe ahead of the British GP completely dismissed speculation of him being replaced in Budapest the team are reportedly running out of patience with the British driver who has yet to score a single point this season. Whilst Palmer has been a disappointment this season, performance-wise, how many DNF's has he had due to the car failing? I don't think Palmer is F1 material - But I can't help thinking that the disappointment goes both ways when it comes to Palmer and Renault!
I believe Renault sees their need for a very good driver alongside the Hulk but they don't want to pay Alonso size $$$. Kubica appears more than capable once again, and the fans love seeing him back. You simply cannot buy better publicity.
I'm amazed at the display of loyalty towards their former driver, which, in our day, isn't very common; and amazed that someone could actually consider putting a guy behind the Wheel of a modern Formula One, in anger, for racing, six years after he left. I just can't believe they are actually serious. Rgds
Agree, Renault have been very cool about it, on the other hand, Robert was a top driver, probably the best of his generation, so the prospect of having him back...and almost at cost 0 while making a huge publicity stunt must be tempting!!
Apparently his results specify his capability to drive in a current F1 car. He is very very talented and the tech now allows him to exercise it. Im not at all surprised. He was held in high reguard by those who raced against him.
Alonso remains a very good friend of his and has always stated him to be a formidable and very complete driver. Robert was the equivalent, IMO, of Sebastian Vettel before any titles, suffering a major loss, then coming back when he was physically able. Anyone would jump at the opportunity to see if he still 'has it' and put him in a seat for much shorter capital than that of one $138m Vettel.
Well sorry John... but Kubica has exactly ONE - rather lucky - Grand Prix victory to his credit, so let's not get carried away in comparisons, shall we? Kimi's return in 2012 after having missed two seasons was already considered as some sort of a gamble, and the guy was a former World Champion, with a tally of 18 (eighteen) Grand Prix wins. And Kimi managed to extract two wins from that Lotus (the former Renault) something that Kubica did not achieve; OK, granted, it was not the same car, not the same season, etc, etc... Robert Kubica may have been talented, he may cost Renault not much, but frankly I fail to see the point. Not that I wouldn't like to be proven wrong, but it simply doesn't add up for me. Rgds
Remember this is a business, with Kubica in the car Renault will get a lot of attention, marketing, and a lot of #s. No matter what happens this is a win for Renault, and a win for Kubica.
One win but never had a great car under him, his teammates where never capable of winning in similar cars. Either way, Renault has not much to lose letting him take Palmers' seat for the rest of the season. Palmer has scored, to date, zero points. If Kubica scores zero points, well that's just terrible but at least ''we'll know'' his injuries prevented a serious comaback. Lets say he does score points, not only is he better than Palmer but he'll actually be employable.
Not my words, rather they are that of Fernando Alonso as he stated some years ago. You could be right, but as I stated before, Renault need this publicity and one cannot buy this level of attention. Good for them
What if Alonso made it his condition that Kubica is his teammate at Renault and the Hulk puts the 27 back on a Ferrari next year?
That is a particularly interesting line of thought. Although I don't see the Hulk happening at Ferrari.
Palmer has a contract with Renault, so i would be amazed if they rip it up before the end of the season,that could potentially cost them quite big $$$.So i do not see this happening for now. It would be great to see a competitive Kubica back in F1, but doing a full season is a lot different to a bit of testing etc.
The part I find interesting is: "It is true that with Robert we feel we need to investigate a little bit further after all the tests we have done. "Obviously there have been the tests we did with the 2012 car, but also we have done other things - medical checks and simulator work that I don't really want to elaborate on....." Surely if the medical checks were pretty much okay, both Kubica and Renault would be more than happy to announce that it was not so much of an issue?
