Robert Kubrick, Ferrari, Kubrick discussed on The Autosport Podcast
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
So number three is Robert Kubrick. 2006 to ten, 2019 and 2021. I mean, we are talking about the pre rally accident. Although his story after that has been inspiring in a different way. To get back in any code. Let alone a Formula One car. Absolutely driving still going and a fantastic fantastic inspiration, I think. But I'm thinking more about his pre rally accident F one career. So 99 starts one win one part one first step. Best result fourth in 2008. But one of the ways you're looking at this list is and I've said this before about when we're assessing the Gracie's drivers. Who are the benchmark drivers of their era? And you lay them out and as I said before, you know, Fangio moss Clark Stuart louder cross center Schumacher Hamilton, who's where we're at. It's probably going to be the next one. And then where drivers are in relation to that, how close they are. And for me, Kubrick is writing with the Hamilton Alonso. And he was that good that highly rated to the point where there was talk of him going to Ferrari. And he's the one driver outside of Hamilton. I would go, oh, people are in Alonso. I'm not sure. Was everyone else right with Alonzo. Kick their backside. I don't know that would have been the case. Some of these qualifying efforts for the Renault were incredible. And in 2008, I think he was the best drive. He topped the all sport 50. He didn't really make any significant errors. The reason he didn't win the chat was because BMW went, oh no, we're close enough. We're going to try and win it next year if the new rules are we got it wrong. And he was pretty annoyed about that. Rightly, so I think who backed him on his way up, was he a Ferrari driver in his junior categories? Was he associated with anybody? He was funding him. Was he BMW? Was he? I don't know. I can't remember who funded him on his way up. Damian, where would you have been around that early part of the noughties? Was it here? Was it motor sport magazine? Can you remember the there wasn't really a hype around, but there wasn't an excitement around him coming into Formula One. Do you remember that time? Yeah, I don't really remember being that aware of him on the way up. He did good things in Renault 3.5, didn't he? And he arrived, and when he arrives, everyone will say, oh, this guy's good. But there was no real sort of slow burn. I would think more than Lewis Hamilton, we kind of spotted very early, and he had to win those championships almost like to tick them off and he Julie did so. And so arrived with a lot of talk about him and Cuba didn't in that sense. But when he got there, he was one of those drivers absolutely suited Formula One and driving a form one car and it was clearly Hamilton always had massive respect for him Alonso and massive respect for him. All his peers, again, it's this thing about the peers response to him. I was going to say next very key, because when we did this list, the first time around, which was when 2000 14, that Kubernetes third was one of the things we've got the most stick for. So I then commissioned the GP editor of the time to go and speak to everyone that had worked with or raced against Kubrick and go right. Tell us how good was this guy and how mega was he? And they were basically came about yeah, he was as good as anyone, best of the best. Oh, there was Lewis and Fernanda. So I was like, thanks very much. When I saw the list and we were getting ready for this. That was the one that I raised my eye about the most of until then basically we have these sorts of discussions and go, oh actually, when you lay all facts and opinions on the table and you see it. Yeah, it's totally justified. I still don't know if I put him this high in this, but that's an objective matter of it. But certainly on those that era of when he was sort of so close to fighting sight on that. Yeah, he had the skill. He had the speed, probably didn't have ever had the machinery. At least at the same time and then when you're looking at when the injury comes in and yeah, there was talk of a pre contract potentially going to Ferrari before or just at the time of the running accident, you think. Yeah, again, again, much like everyone on this list of stars of the line ever so slightly. You never know. He's much more of a what might have been on this list, whereas the other guys on a lot of guys and this is at least had a chance. Yeah, yeah, I don't think you could ever say he had a genuine title fighting chance. No, and I've probably which is why I probably wouldn't put him quite so high as you. Yeah, I guess if I was being entirely consistent with my waiting criteria. Right. You'd probably have to drop him down to I don't know, maybe the 5th 6th sort of area. But I just have this and you can call this bias if you're like, I just have this absolute belief that he was, yeah, he was that good. I think he was probably better than Seb and he's a full-time world champion. And because of the way he used to go racing, he didn't seek out the cameras, and he didn't want to have the highest profile in the paddock. He was never the Kimi character. It was actually quite chatty. But he purposefully has his on screen persona. That became a joke towards the end of his career, but because he never was at the front of the queue to be on in the interviews and things like that. I think when he had those amazing performances, he took people by surprise or an average Formula One fan and be like, oh my goodness. This guy's amazing. Perhaps people will be surprised to have him in third place. Maybe he should be lower down. I don't know. He's quite an understated character. I mean, I don't really, this is perhaps where I'm a bit weird. I don't really care about all that stuff. I don't care whether you're a super I mean, obviously from a fan's point of view, you do, but for the assessment of a driver, I don't care whether you're out boozing up every night or you're in a library looking up stats from the year before or whatever you would do that lobby you do. But you know what you mean? It's what you deliver on the track, which is why the whole the Kimmy thing. If he'd been continuing to blow all his teammates away and when you work chances, he can sense to say what he likes, but it starts to not look so good if you're doing that and then three tenths off Felipe Massa in qualifying. That's kind of what I mean and I think that Kubrick was the other way around. He was not he did all he's talking on the track really. And then what did what did we find out about when you commissioned to be like, okay, did we get this wrong putting with the place? What are some of the things that came back in terms of how in testing or in race debriefs? What are some of the things that came out that the average Formula One fan wouldn't know? Yeah, the usual cliches really driven, relentless, knew what you wanted. I think there was a story and trying to bring him in for wets at Monaco and he went. I've never seen rainfall from a blue sky. I'm staying out. The short of calls that you need to have. And I know that that's become less and less of a thing over time because there's so much data on the pit wall, but actually as we've seen in 2022, with both Red Bull and Ferrari in the opposite directions, a bit of getting on the radio and going, these tires aren't for today chaps. Okay, fine. We're doing that. And listening to the driver, that's actually going around the track and feeling it in real time. And the Kubrick had to well, first of all, we had the ability to identify and secondly had the confidence to go now. This is the right call. Yeah, he was a leader, and I think it would have been only surely a matter of time before he would have been in the championship fight. Obviously that I'm going out on a bit of a limb there. So I take the point, but I'm kind of making a point with third. Make of that what you were. No, and because he had his accident in a different series as well. I think that earns him points as a driver as a racing driver who isn't,