Formula 1 veteran Robert Kubica stood in for Zhou Guanyu in the first session of the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday, where the Polish driver thoroughly enjoyed his time behind the wheel of the Chinese driver’s C42.
In his Free Practice One appearance, Kubica was left very happy with all the data he gathered for the team to use going into the business end of the weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit. The Pole was hilariously asked by Zhou’s race engineer towards the end of the session if he’d like a final push lap on the Softs, something the former Renault and BMW-Sauber driver didn’t turndown,
He ended the session in fourteenth and “very pleased”, after having a “good feeling” in the C42.
“It’s always nice to drive this car and I’m very pleased about my performance, especially as the last time I was in the C42 was back in Hungary. I was driving LMP2 cars last week and there’s always some getting used to with a different car, but it all went surprisingly well, especially with the hard tyres.
“In the end, in an FP1 you only have a single lap to nail it, that’s the challenge of this session. I had a good feeling with the car, and we figured out quickly where to improve. It was a productive day and it gives us confidence for the rest of the weekend.”
