Kubica injured in rally crash - Now rallying again...

They still need someone to help develop the car...I doubt they wish to rely on just Petrov. They will probably start testing Senna and Grosjean for the rest of pre-season testing. Problem is, it might be critical to have a more experienced driver in the team right now to guide the development. Fortuntely for Renault, there are a fair few about, especially good development drivers (Heidfeld, De La Rosa). Even Sebastien Bourdais is a possiblity. The only downside is there aren't any super-fast proven F1 drivers on the level of Kubica available, with only Heidfeld being the close-best candidate (who is not contracted).
It all depends on what their contracts state with their reserve drivers, I doubt their contracts stated "only in the case of replacing Petrov" :lol:.
 
Robert will be furious if they are not committing 100% to testing the car, what on earth are Lotus Renault GP suggesting they are doing instead of thinking about replacement drivers and working on the car/team, must they say everyone in the factory and design offices is now worriedly tapping their fingers until the magic empathy clock says it's ok to continue? No they are all rushed off their feet developing the car still. One sided press babble going on there.
They better make a good job of the car in 2011 or Robert may decide to go to Ferrari in 2012 if he decides they didn't try hard enough and got distracted by his accident.
 
It's a difficult one. They could test Senna and Grosjean during pre season testing. Either that or Vitaly will have a very busy schedule.

If they were to bring in a more experienced developement driver, I have no doubts they would pick Nick Heidfeld. This is just my personal opinion, but I think out of the potential candidates (heidfeld, de la rosa, bourdais, liuzzi, klien) heidfeld certainly stands out as the best. Would be nice to see Christian Klien given a chance though as he clearly intends to hang out around the paddock in hopes of another drive and he performed well most of the time throughout his career. However, he was a touch inconsistent.

If they leave the decision as late as possible, then someone may get stuck in the car with little or no pre season testing. I hope Kubica makes a speedy recovery, as he was one of the most exciting prospects for this season. On the other side of the coin, this may be very good for petrov's career. He'll get the highest amount of testing (until a replacement for robert is selected) unless they decide to assess other drivers.

Renault may use it to assess their various reserve drivers, but that's not really the point of pre season testing. Senna is, frankly somewhat of an unknown quantity after a bad season in a bad car. Romain didn't exactly impress in f1, although he did outside of f1. Charouz, Tung and Fauzy won't really be in contention. Renault should focus on their testing, and this would be a really good chance to develop Petrov.

He'll also be able to start the season without such a high benchmark to compare to. Unless Raikkonen makes some surprise return... j/k

As a kubica, and f1 fan in general, robert making a speedy recovery is certainly higher on my wishlist, but this could be the best thing to happen to petrov's f1 career.
 
Quoted from LRGP official Facebook page, ''Robert was briefly woken up this morning. He was able to move his fingers, which is encouraging for the rest of his recovery process.''

I want to meet him in Sepang so badly! This is a new hope.
 
F1 fan
As a kubica, and f1 fan in general, robert making a speedy recovery is certainly higher on my wishlist, but this could be the best thing to happen to petrov's f1 career.
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Unless he gets battered by Senna :lol:. If anything, there is even more pressure for Petrov to perform, he's now probably got to lead the team and he's got make his mark against whoever Renault hire, particularly other inexperienced drivers like Senna and Grosjean.

Interesting to note that if Senna does indeed get the seat, he is experiencing a career not too unlike Damon Hill's (started racing properly older than normal, people didn't think much of him, "only there because of his name", rookie season in an uncompetitive car, gets a second chance in a top team).
 
I don't think Petrov will be given driver number 1 status considering they are not that happy with him last year. But what choice does Lotus Renault have?
If they did take Heidfeld he could be given the number 1 position. They would have to sort it out right now though, no use waiting.
 
Ardius
Unless he gets battered by Senna :lol:. If anything, there is even more pressure for Petrov to perform, he's now probably got to lead the team and he's got make his mark against whoever Renault hire, particularly other inexperienced drivers like Senna and Grosjean.

Interesting to note that if Senna does indeed get the seat, he is experiencing a career not too unlike Damon Hill's (started racing properly older than normal, people didn't think much of him, "only there because of his name", rookie season in an uncompetitive car, gets a second chance in a top team).
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You make a good point, but I'm also a Petrov fan. I'd wager he could easily beat Senna. Purely my personal opinion though.

Vitaly will get more testing, will be able to get comfortable in the car and I do genuinely believe that he's a very promising talent. He might have only got into F1 because of money, but so did a certain Niki Lauda. And people weren't exactly singing his praises after his debut either.

I really wanted Senna to do well, but I'd be willing to bet Petrov would beat him.
 
DQuaN
Perhaps then the design and position of the barrier needs a rethink? Although it could again be down to him hitting it at a very unlikely angle.

Get well soon Robert.
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I'd say yes. The rails are very dangerous at some points. Some look to be at windshield height and coming very close to the car at points (see whole video).

There should NEVER be in any road of this century in any civilized country, guard rails that start/end in mid air instead of curving into the ground. A co-driver in Portugal a couple years ago was not so lucky and died on the spot.



That said, this wasn't one of those guard rails, this was at a "normal" height. And he just hit it hard and made a hole in it.

Scroll to 3m25 to see the car/rail images.
 
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Nice one. I tend to agree. If he regains a minimum of mobility and strength in his right leg, arm and hand, he can drive an F1.

If this had happened some 10 years ago, I'd say he would never come back to F1. Not only because of the need to steer and shift, and heel/toe, but mainly because surgeons now have the means and are able to much, much more than in the past.

Fingers crossed 👍

If it were me however... I don't know if I'd be so brave to come back. It's his 2nd strike (1st being Canada in 2007) :scared:
 


Thanks for beeing human and stopping to help Robert. You are real sportmen! 👍👍👍👍👍
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This remind me Ayrton Senna, this
 
Owen.C93
It's pretty bad that the rail entered the front and then past out of the boot and then spun around. It could've been alot worse.
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At first I thought it was a "killer guard-rail". But then the images made it a bit more clear, and now I'm convinced he was just extremely unlucky.

It appears to be a normal piece of continuous guard-rail that was supposed to hold a car crashing into it. But he "pinballed" from the wall into it in a small angle, carrying a lot speed. So it just stretched and tore the guard outwards (saw some complete pieces of rail on the lower road to the left) and exposed the beginning of a piece of rail. The momentum he was carrying then drove that piece through the whole car. So many guard-rail end death-traps he avoided and ended up almost being sliced in half by the middle of one anyway :ouch:

From the crash yes, it could be worst. It could have caught him in the torso. In that regard he was lucky 👍


edit: I was wrong, see this post.
 
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Faria0808
Thanks for beeing human and stopping to help Robert. You are real sportmen! 👍👍👍👍👍
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Without trying to belittle the effort of the guy on the rally they are differen cases. As soon as that accident would have happened on the rally, the stage would've been cancelled, so it's not the same as stopping mid-race. That in mind I assume the race was red-flagged when Senna stopped to help.

And if you want to read about proper comradeship, just google David Purley.
 
Duffers917K
Without trying to belittle the effort of the guy on the rally they are differen cases. As soon as that accident would have happened on the rally, the stage would've been cancelled, so it's not the same as stopping mid-race. That in mind I assume the race was red-flagged when Senna stopped to help.

And if you want to read about proper comradeship, just google David Purley.
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Just a thing, Senna helped the other driver during a Warm-Up
 
sems4arsenal
Don't think you can call him "lucky" but you are right it could have been alot worse :scared: .It is a pretty horrendous crash and he can only thank the specalized team of renowned Doctors and God .Man this guy has had some pretty dreadful crashes Downside of Motorsport I guess.
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I'd call it lucky, a few inches to either side and the driver or co-driver would've been killed.
 
Faria0808
Just a thing, Senna helped the other driver during a Warm-Up
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Very right. But sportsmanship is just that. Being racing, qualifying or rallying. Rally drivers even have an unwritten code to just stop whenever a crash occurs, unless they get a sign that all is ok. I've seen from thumbs up to improvised hand writen OK signs to let other drivers know they can carry on instead of stopping, and so the stage doesn't get neutralized. Mourning (and not racing) after a fatality is also a form of respect for a fallen driver. Other drivers, managers and "institutions" come to mind, that just want to get on with racing no matter what. And that is not sport, it's just business.

That picture looks very scary indeed. One degree more or less in the angle he hit it and it could have been much worst for him or the co driver. Within all the bad luck, there was some good fortune.
 
I really hate rally races!!Going so fast in so narrow roads with no protection at all.Many accidents throughout the years,spectators including.Anyway,i wish the best for him,he's is a real fighter!!!
 
Rally is awsome, i have to admiss :dopey:
But is very dangerous, just look the onboard of the driver behind Kubz, and you will see how dangerous it is
 
I love rallying. Coping with the road as it comes, different conditions every time. But in these roads? No real chance to work a good trajectory in this narrow space, and a simple mistake sends you crashing immediately. Videos like that scare me.
 

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