Robert Kubica: “Ready to jump in the car”

Robert Kubica, Lotus Renault GP driver, discusses the 2011 season and shares his analysis of the revised technical regulations following the official launch of the English team’s 2011 season.

Robert, the new season opens in just a month. What is your feeling about the challenge ahead?

After a long winter break, we’re always ready to jump back into the car, and this season it’s especially true. My car sports new colors, but there are also significant changes in the regulations, such as the ban on double diffusers, the introduction of movable rear wings, and the new Pirelli tires. There are many new elements to get used to before the first race, but we will give our best to be as prepared as possible for the start of the season.

This will be your second season with this team. Does it make it easier to get the best out of yourself and the car?

Obviously, when you join a team, you have to get to know the people and how they work. So it’s an advantage not to have to worry about that this year because I know what to expect. It will be easier to focus on getting the most out of the car and improving performance.

Do you think the competition will be different in 2011 due to the new rules?

It will undoubtedly be a bit different, but not more difficult because, in any case, driving an F1 to the limit is always challenging. The drivers will certainly have more work with the KERS and the adjustable rear wing. But it probably won’t be more complicated than last year with the F-duct. In fact, it won’t be worse to have both hands on the wheel again! We will certainly need all our focus during the first test days to understand the new systems. But I am sure we will get used to it quickly and that everything will become automatic in no time.

Is the movable rear wing good news for drivers?

For me, it will clearly create more overtaking opportunities, which is good for F1. But we need to be careful that it doesn’t give too much of an advantage to the car behind. If overtaking happens every lap for that reason, I don’t think it’s very exciting. Another point we need to consider is the gearbox ratios. It will be very tricky to define the ideal settings, especially for the sixth and seventh gears. Even if you find a good setup for qualifying with the free use of the wing, you’ll also need to find a good compromise for the race when its use is restricted.

Will it be difficult to complete the work schedule during winter testing and be fully ready for the first race?

It’s never easy given the limited number of test days, but I think we’ll have just enough time to be ready for Bahrain. It will depend on how the initial tests go, and we must hope not to encounter any surprises that cost us time on the track. With so many changes, the task is more demanding than in previous years. Understanding the KERS, the rear wing, and the new tires will require a lot of laps. In fact, learning about the tires will be the most time-consuming because we will have to run each type of rubber in different conditions and with varying fuel levels. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a smooth start to testing so we can focus on performance as soon as possible.

What are your hopes and expectations for this year?

My goal, as always, is to deliver performances as good as they are consistent throughout the season. That’s every driver’s aim. For now, it is difficult to predict the competitiveness of our package, but the engineers have relied on an innovative design and that’s very good. We had a great season last year and we hope to progress even further and get closer to the top. This means we will have to fight against Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull, and we know how difficult that is. But we are working very hard to ensure we are part of this fight.