Only days after Mario Theissen insisted that it would be ‘unrealistic' for BMW and
Robert Kubica to battle for the
Formula 1 World Championship in 2008 [see separate story –
click here], the Pole has gone and thrown his hat firmly into the ring by sensationally securing his maiden triumph in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Indeed, Kubica's breakthrough
F1 victory was made all-the-more special by coming at the same circuit that had last year threatened to derail his season altogether, when fans around the world were shocked by sickening images of his BMW somersaulting horrifyingly across the track after clipping the back of
Jarno Trulli's
Toyota and careering into the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's unforgiving concrete barriers.
Though the 23-year-old was consequently ruled out of the US Grand Prix just a week later, when he returned he did so in some style, achieving what was then the best qualifying position of his fledgling career in the uppermost echelon at Magny-Cours and going on to score points in every one of the next six races – even if he admitted to not having been altogether happy with
BMW's 2007 car.
“There were a few things that were not working properly and I pushed to get them fixed,” he is quoted as having said by international news agency
Reuters. “Unfortunately we couldn't fix them during the season.
“This year's results show how much I struggled last year – maybe more than people thought – but the effect has been very positive for myself and for the team.”
Indeed, an even better start to the current campaign has seen Kubica qualify on the front row of the grid in the curtain-raiser Down Under, seal his first pole position in Bahrain, take three rostrum finishes from the opening six races – and now, of course, his debut victory too, propelling him amazingly to the top of the drivers' world championship standings, four points ahead of
Lewis Hamilton and
Felipe Massa tied on second place behind him.
