The Williams Racing team went into the Italian Grand Prix weekend knowing it was going to be a tough one for them, and for Robert Kubica it was definitely a struggle, with the Polish driver ending up a twice-lapped seventeenth at the chequered flag.
Kubica had started fifteenth following a reshuffle of the grid, brought on by a myriad of penalties for engine component changes, but despite his best efforts he could not maintain his position ahead of his rivals, with some of his problems being linked to his front-left tyres, which he could not get to work properly in the corners.
He attempted to remain in the two of those in front but once that was lost, he was unable to keep up with the rest of the field, ending up as the last of the classified finishers, three places behind team-mate George Russell, who ended up fourteenth despite the shortfall in pace of the FW42.
“It wasn’t easy, overall the weekend was up and down,” said Kubica, who had been confident with the car on Friday before fading across the rest of the event at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. “Generally, the race started pretty well, but then I struggled with the front-left tyre in the corners.
“We had a few battles and I tried to defend as much as I could, but I struggled to stay in the tow of the other cars. I tried my best and that’s how it is.”
Kubica remains as Williams’ only points scorer so far in 2019 thanks to his tenth-place result in the German Grand Prix, with the Pole currently nineteenth out of twenty in the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of only team-mate Russell.
