Kubica still quick

[Monty]

Robert managed 7th fastest time this morning - this seems very good. However, he was still 2.5seconds slower than Vettel and I have not seen any times for the Renault in the hands of another driver - so nothing to give a direct comparison.
To be honest, I can't see why Renault (or an other team) would give him a drive. There is no doubt that he was an incredible talent but there are so many fast young drivers available what advantage can he offer?

[Jericoke]

Robert managed 7th fastest time this morning - this seems very good. However, he was still 2.5seconds slower than Vettel and I have not seen any times for the Renault in the hands of another driver - so nothing to give a direct comparison.
To be honest, I can't see why Renault (or an other team) would give him a drive. There is no doubt that he was an incredible talent but there are so many fast young drivers available what advantage can he offer?

I know I'm repeating myself, but an F1 driver's main job is to attract sponsors to a team.  The best way to do that is to win races.  Since Renault isn't going to win no matter who's driving their car, they have to go with the second best way to attract sponsors:  be someone that the fans love.  Upcoming young drivers can be exciting, but a tragic come back story of former upcoming young driver is even better.  Given we've only mentioned 2 drivers out of all testers, seems to me that Kubica is the right choice to get people interested in Renault.

[Monty]

Jeri - your views are well put and make sense. I just don't agree. Robert offers nostalgia and a bit of a sympathy vote (don't get me wrong he was brilliant and I'm not saying he can't be brilliant again) but this will not bring big-bucks sponsorship. Many of the younger drivers bring ready made sponsorship or, in some cases, hard cash. Renault already have experience in Hulkenburg and they can select from any number of cheap or paying drivers for the other car. I think it would be really honourable of Renault to give Robert a drive but if he is no faster than Palmer (and I believe at his age and with the effects of his injuries he will not be faster than Palmer) then what's the point? Although I would love to see Palmer find pace and succeed, if he is going to be replaced by anyone, I hope it is Kubica (but I do not think it will be  )

[ChrisCurtis]

I think he's done enough this afternoon to give Renault something to think about.

The 142 lap count shows he has the physical stamina.

His best time of 1:18.572 (on ultrasoft tyres) was nearly two seconds quicker than Nicholas Latifi's yesterday.

Compounds aside, only a tenth slower than Palmer's fastest Hungarian GP qualifying lap.

All in a car he'd never driven before.

I think sponsors will be queueing up to be behind the guy who came back after such an accident. Let's not forget he was spoken about in the same sentences as Hamilton and Alonso.

In fact, I reckon the 2018 seat is as good as his.

[Jericoke]

Jeri - your views are well put and make sense. I just don't agree. Robert offers nostalgia and a bit of a sympathy vote (don't get me wrong he was brilliant and I'm not saying he can't be brilliant again) but this will not bring big-bucks sponsorship. Many of the younger drivers bring ready made sponsorship or, in some cases, hard cash. Renault already have experience in Hulkenburg and they can select from any number of cheap or paying drivers for the other car. I think it would be really honourable of Renault to give Robert a drive but if he is no faster than Palmer (and I believe at his age and with the effects of his injuries he will not be faster than Palmer) then what's the point? Although I would love to see Palmer find pace and succeed, if he is going to be replaced by anyone, I hope it is Kubica (but I do not think it will be  )

The other side of the coin is national appeal.  The grid is littered with British and German drivers, are Weirlein or Palmer really going to attract the fans following Hamilton or Vettel?  Kubica draws fans from Poland, and probably other Slavic countries.  If two drivers are otherwise equal, you have to look at who is going to draw new fans/markets.

(Since there's never been two Canadians in F1, I can't really say what it's like.  Maybe there are millions of Britons who hate Hamilton and only watch F1 to see Palmer.)

[Alianora La Canta]

Robert managed 7th fastest time this morning - this seems very good. However, he was still 2.5seconds slower than Vettel and I have not seen any times for the Renault in the hands of another driver - so nothing to give a direct comparison.
To be honest, I can't see why Renault (or an other team) would give him a drive. There is no doubt that he was an incredible talent but there are so many fast young drivers available what advantage can he offer?

Nicholas Latifi, the Renault-backed midfield F2 driver who drove the Renault yesterday, was 3.3 seconds off the leading Ferrari yesterday... ...which was driven by F2 championship leader Leclerc. Either Leclerc is a lot better than Vettel already (even I, a fan of Leclerc's, think this unlikely at present) or Kubica is fast enough to blow Latifi into the weeds. Latifi maybe isn't the greatest marker ever, but neither is he a slouch. Kubica also had the disadvantage that he was doing a particularly mileage-intensive test programme of over 2 race distances. Latifi's was around half of that distance, meaning he had a fresher car when he did his time than Kubica did.

I think Robert is F1 pace. It's just hard to say how that compares to Palmer in particular at this precise moment. Or current F2 runner-up Oliver Rowland, which would be more pertinent. After all, if Renault does not replace Palmer with Kubica (or retain their current line-up), it is Rowland who would get the nod.

Usually, I'd say the advantages of sponsorship would be with the younger driver. However, a quick glance at the Kubica hype train (or hype galactic cruiser, as one of my friends put it) makes me think the advantage this time is very much with the veteran, despite his lack of specific sponsor to his name.

[Alianora La Canta]

(Since there's never been two Canadians in F1, I can't really say what it's like.  Maybe there are millions of Britons who hate Hamilton and only watch F1 to see Palmer.)

Hamilton/Palmer and Britain is perhaps not the best example - most of the people who don't like Hamilton don't like Palmer or don't really register his existence on the grid in the first place. He put his foot in his mouth a couple of awkward moments early in his F1 career (a similar flaw to Hamilton doesn't really help with attracting alternate fanbases), and has all the public profile of a flat tyre.

However, in earlier times, Britain has had more equal situations. For example, back in 1995, there were 5 British drivers with half-decent or better profiles - Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert, Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell. All of them were sufficiently different to get their own fanbase, and although things were friendly enough that fans of all camps would defend any specific one from "outsiders" (Michael Schumacher fans can testify to this), there were indeed quite a few fans who otherwise had no time for one (or more) of the five but were particularly keen on supporting one (or more) of the others.

[lkjohnson1950]

Kubica himself is not sure yet.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/08/02/early-make-call-comeback-test-kubica/

[Dare]

Kubica returning would be a good story but
at his age wouldn't Renault be better off investing
in a good young driver? He had his chance and in
F1 one chance is all you usually get.

[Monty]

I believe at his age and with the effects of his injuries he will not be faster than Palmer

could someone pass the pickles to help me eat my words!
It is so hard for outsiders to take any meaningful conclusions from these tests but 4th fastest in what we have to assume is one of the slower cars, is really impressive. I still can't see Robert getting a drive - there are a lot of 'nearly men' out their now in Formula E, DTM, Indy, etc. who would probably be just as fast. Youngsters with cash or sponsorship seem to be the future.

[Monty]

Have any of you clever people out there seen a report of what tyres were being used? I know Lando Norris and Robert Kubica used Ultra Softs (which were not available at the Hungary GP) but I haven't seen what tyres the others were using for their fast times.

[John S]

Good point about the tyres, however llando In the Macca set a faster time than either Nando or Stoffel at any session at GP. I'd say that may be a good indicator about young blood versus more mature returnees. Sure Robert is still capable but can he really improve as much as some of these youngsters are expected to do.

[cosworth151]

There's no doubt that Renault needs to improve it's cars. Maybe they think that Kubica can give them better feedback on what the car needs than a rookie.