With Robert Kubica driving in the F1 the phrase "Pole Position" took a whole new meaning. The first Polish driver on the F1 circuit, Kubica also became the 99thDriver to win an F1 race when he took advantage of all the confusion the Canadian Grand Prix in 2008 to win his first race behind the steering wheel of a BMW Sauber Car. Promoted from the ranks of a test driver in the 2006 season, Robert Kubica partners veteran Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber team. Despite his debut in 2006,it was in 2007 that Kubica made in-roads on the F1 track, finishing consistently in the points tally over several races. However that year in the Canadian Grand Prix he escaped a life-threatening crash with an ankle sprain and concussion. He was unable to race for the next event at Indianapolis but went on to finish fourth in the next two races and ended the season strongly.

Early Accomplishments

Kubica was no exception to the norm as even he started his career with karting. In the European Junior Karting Championships in 1998, he scored second position and also succeeded in winning the Junior Monaco Kart Cup which was actually held on the very track of Formula One Grand Prix racing. In 1999, he won the Monaco cup again for a second time with the addition of the Margutti and Elf Masters trophies. In his last season of carting, which was in 2000, he came fourth in the European and World Championships both.

Career Hightlights

The highlight of Kubica’s career has been the Canadian Grand Prix. After escaping a nearly career ending accident, the ‘pole’ came back the following year to win the Race, though he received help from Lewis Hamilton who rammed into the race leader Kimi Raikkonen. In fact in a post race press conference he joked about thanking Hamilton for electing to ram into Raikkonen instead of him. Thereafter Robert raced brilliantly on a two stop re-fueling strategy to beat team-mate Nick Heidfeld, despite him making just one stop as opposed to Kubica’s two, to the finish line. In the latter half of 2008, Robert showed great skill in the Japanese Grand Prix to hold of Kimi Räikkönen who was on a blistering run, ultimately defending his 2ndposition in the race successfully.

A Summary

Robert Kubica is currently suffering from the problems that F1 defines as "a non-competitive car". All this while Brawn GP is setting the race track on fire with their technically better equipped machines. However the beacon of light that he is on the F1 track we can definitely expect much more from Robert ‘the pole’ Kubica in years to come.