Eric Boullier: Robert Kubica might return by the end of 2011 – Formula 1 news
Lotus Renault GP’s Robert Kubica recently went through a horrifying accident at a rally event this past weekend and as a result, almost lost his right hand.
Robert went through a couple of surgeries but the doctors are still not sure whether his hand’s nervous system would ever function properly or not.
It was revealed by the team that Kubica will surely not be a part of the 2011 Formula 1 season and the team is now left with a full season driver’s seat to fill for the upcoming season which is expected to be next month.
However, Renault’s team boss Eric Boullier recently stated that the Polish driver might recover fully until the final quarter of the 2011 Formula 1 season and become a part of the team once again then.
“The team is close to Robert. We wait for him with open arms and we hope he can come back before the end of the season,” he said.
Until then, the team will have to sign another driver and it has shortlisted three drivers. The team is either going to chose Bruno Senna who is already the team’s reserve driver but that does not seem like a very likely option.
Other than that, Eric believes that Nick Heidfeld and Vitantonio Liuzzi are potential contenders for the spot and it seems that both of them are currently ‘drive-less’ for 2011.
“The first one driving will at the moment be our first test driver. In the meantime, we will look for Kubica's substitute: the names considered are Senna, Liuzzi and Heidfeld,” Boullier said.
At first, it was revealed that the team was considering Tonio Liuzzi and Nico Hulkenberg but Eric’s recent statement revealed that the team is obviously not interested in Nico. It is quite disappointing that the team is not considering the young German as
a potential contender for the spot even though he is the strongest driver amongst these 4 drivers statistically after Nick Heidfeld.
It is going to be interesting to see how Renault performs this season without Robert Kubica as the fans are expecting a ‘race winning’ performance from the team in 2011.
Tags: