SEPTEMBER 29, 2005

Robert Kubica for Minardi?

There is a chance that Poland's Robert Kubica will be seen in the third Minardi at the Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix in October. Kubica is currently leading the way in the Renault World Series with four wins and a big advantage in the points as the series goes into its final races at Estoril this weekend and Monza on October 22-23. Thus far the 20-year-old from Kracow has scored 12 times in 17 races for his Epsilon Euskadi team, which is run by former F1 man Joan Villadelprat.

Kubica has been racing since 2001, initially in Formula Renault and then in Formula 3. He moved to the World Series by Renault this year.

The deal has yet to be confirmed but if it goes ahead Kubica will become the first Polish driver to take part in a Formula 1 World Championship event. Given its political situation, Poland has not really had much chance to produce racing champions since the early years of the sport but counts Eliot and Louis Zborowski as its greatest names. Count Eliot was one of the earliest casualties in the sport, being killed in a Mercedes-Benz on the La Turbie hillclimb in 1903. His son Louis was famous for building the Chitty Bang Bang series of cars which he raced at Brooklands in the 1920s but he was killed at Monza, driving for the Mercedes factory team during the Italian GP.