Robert Kubica unwilling to make predictions for Monza
Robert Kubica, the Renault driver is hopeful, yet cautious to say too much as the Formula One squad heads for the next round of the season, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
He refused to say anything about his expectations from the upcoming week, only telling that the day’s performance will depend upon the choice of using f-duct or not.
The F-duct served Kubica very well in the last race of the season at Spa-Francorchamps circuit where he was able to stand gloriously at the third place on the podium. Actually, the car did even better and he could have made to second place but only lost his position owing to a few mistakes that the driver made on the track last Sunday. The biggest one that cost him his position was made at the time when he pitted for change of tyre. The poor stop at the pit made him lose his second place to Red Bull’s Mark Webber, yet the team as well as Kubica himself sees the last week’s third place finish as a success for the team.
Due to his podium finish, the Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg, moved down to eighth place in the Drivers' Championship while Kubica settled for seventh.
Well, the race has brought a lot of expectations from the driver as everyone sees his last race as the final return of Renault before the end of the season, yet Kubica has insisted that Monza could bring forth a few "surprises" this weekend, which might be good or bad.
He further explained that at the moment he finds it hard to predict anything but would only want to say that whatsoever happens, the weekend is going to be very interesting for everyone in order to judge the performance of the cars.
He was excited to exclaim that Spa-Francorchamps is a great, and one of the most loved tracks of the world. He added that the circuit helped the team to know the worth of F-duct and how powerful the system can turn a car immediately. He was glad to add that they were more competitive and closer to the front runners than ever before all through the season.
However, he admitted the fact that though Monza has equal class and fame yet it was a far different track form Spa and F-duct might not perform there the same way. He proclaimed, “The effect will be less powerful in Monza because the cars run with less drag, but there will be still be an advantage, so we need to see which teams use it and if we are able to as well.”
He was cautions with his words as he told that Monza never goes of surprises, “So I prefer to stay cautious when it comes to predictions.” However, he added that if the car does as good as it did in Spa, there will be no stopping for them to have another podium finish at Monza as well.
Currently, the team is still going through all the minute analysis and calculations before they make their final decision whether to use their f-duct in Monza or to leave it behind.
The technical director for Renault, James Allison, while talking to planetf1.com revealed, “The team has yet to decide whether they will actually race their f-duct in Monza as it is very different from all the other circuits and so we have had to prepare a bespoke package that we will not use anywhere else.”
He further went on explaining, "Monza has such long straights and so few corners that it requires much smaller wings than any other track. To add further complication, the F-duct is a potential alternative option for Monza.”
Like many of the other teams, Renault is also evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of the system closely, keeping the low-downforce and long straights of the track in mind.
Let’s see what the teams comes up with, as only six days are left and next race will be staged at the great track of Monza.
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