Robert Kubica insists he can return to the same standard of driving he was at before his rallying crash in 2011, as he continues his training towards a potential return to Formula 1.
The Pole, who has twice tested with the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team in a 2012 Lotus E20 in the last couple of months at Paul Ricard and Valencia, and the thirty-two-year-old has been linked to a first test in a 2017 machine in the in-season test at the Hungaroring at the end of this month.
Kubica feels there is nothing wrong with his mental condition after the tests, and it is he has been working hard on his physical condition, feeling it will be possible to return to the kind of pace and performance he had in his first career in the sport, which saw him take one victory in Canada back in 2008 with BMW Sauber.
“I needed to find a favourable mental condition. It is a matter of awareness. To treat my disability as a surmountable problem and not as a definitive handicap,” said Kubica to Italian publication Corriere della Sera.
“This way I could deal more serenely the first test and I realised only there that any limitation is relative. I started with no idea of my reactions, without any warranty. And I found myself.
“That is a pure driver seeking the performance and nothing else. Everything turned on again immediately because nothing was deleted.
“Like swimming, cycling. I soon acquired an authentic feeling. And I just thought to reach a goal, and then another, having to do with ambition.
“So if Renault were keen to continue this madness, let’s say, well now I have the confidence to match. It will take training, preparation. But I now know that I can get back [to] the driver who I was. And my level of that in 2010 was high, I say this without false modesty.”
