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Robert Kubica

Name: Robert Kubica

Nationality: Poland

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• Robert Kubica

Robert Kubica started his adventures on four wheels at the age of four when he was allowed to drive a small off-road vehicle on land around at his parents' home.

He graduated to karts and proved adept to the extent of winning six Polish Championship titles.

In 1998 Kubica then won the Italian Karting Championship as the first foreigner in the history of the series and also scored second place in European Championship.

At the end of 1999 he tested a Formula Renault 2000 car for the first time.

During his first season in cars he scored his first pole position and became a member of Renault's RDD driver development scheme.

In 2002 he won four races and scored second place in Italian Formula Renault 2000.

However, his move to the Formula 3 Euro Series was delayed by road accident when he was a passenger in Poland, which left him with severely broken right arm.

Making his late debut at the Norisring - and driving with plastic brace and 18 titanium bolts in his right arm - Robert won his first Formula 3 race in front of 126,000 spectators.

He ended his first, shortened season in 12th place but ended his second season in the Euro Series in an improved 7th position.

In November 2004 he also scored pole position in Macau F3 Grand Prix, and then broke the lap record before finishing second.

A good performance during his test with Epsilon Euskadi in World Series by Renault resulted in the team signing young Pole for 2005.

In his first race in new category, at Zolder, Robert scored third place, showing no respect for older and more experienced rivals.

He won a total of four races and in Estoril, three races before the end of the season, he was crowned champion.

That earned him a test with the Renault F1 Team in Barcelona and his lap times made such a big impression that three weeks later Kubica was signed by BMW Sauber as their official Friday test driver for 2006.

The Polish driver, though, soon found himself in race seat, replacing the ousted Jacques Villeneuve mid-season and he surprised and impressed many when he finished third in the Italian Grand Prix, only his third F1 race.

And although he wasn't able to score points in the remaining three races of the season, largely through pushing too hard and going off the track, BMW opted to keep him on as a race driver for the 2007 F1 season.

Kubica made a steady start to his first full season in F1, scoring points in three of the opening five races. However, disaster almost struck at the Canadian GP when he suffered a horrific high-speed accident, coming away with nothing more than concussion and a sprained ankle.

Having clipped the back of Jarno Trulli's Toyota, Kubica was pitched head first into a concrete wall at some 170 mph, his car then disintegrating around him as it somersaulted across the track before coming to a rest on its side several hundred metres away.

While his injuries prevented participation in the United States GP a week later, he made his return in France, demonstrating his own mental strength.

Eight points finishes in the remaining 11 races saw Kubica finish the Championship in sixth place, behind team-mate Nick Heidfeld but nevertheless earning him another season at BMW Sauber.