Kubica not letting Ferrari talk distract him

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Robert Kubica isn’t going to let talk of the future get in the way of his chase for a Formula One championship. The Polish driver’s standing has risen quickly following a debut victory in Montreal to go with season-long consistency for BMW-Sauber. So much so that the F1 paddock is reverberating with reports that Kubica is being lined up to drive for Ferrari in 2009. Kubica, who trails overall leader Lewis Hamilton by 13 points with seven races to go, hasn’t had the easiest time since that Canadian GP victory in June put him atop the standings. An eighth-place finish at Budapest—Kubica’s worst of the season—shows the German car manufacturer could be losing its grip on the championship race and, maybe, its prized driver. “There are many F1 drivers who are waiting for a win and there are F1 drivers like Lewis that they came with very good package doing very good job and they manage to win straightaway. So I’m pretty happy with what I have achieved but, of course, you always want more," Kubica told The Associated Press trackside at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this month. Some drivers might start thinking championship after a maiden victory, but Kubica is keeping his feet firmly planted knowing that a poor result at this weekend’s European Grand Prix on the inaugural street circuit in Valencia, Spain, could dampen such hopes. “To be honest, I will be not disappointed if I do not become world champion because I think all drivers would like to be world champion, but only one is winning and it is not only depending on myself," the 23-year-old Krakow native said. “For me, the most important thing is to be happy of what I’m doing because I can be quite negative to myself of what I’m doing, how I’m driving." Former world champion Damon Hill envisions Kubica, with the right car, regularly challenging Hamilton and the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen. “There are lots of drivers who arrive in F1 and you know that they’re good, but they don’t have, they’re sort of missing an ingredient with some drivers, but I think he’s got that extra ingredient," Hill said. “I’d be very surprised if he wasn’t on the shopping list of the top teams." Kubica left his native Poland as a teenager to pursue a karting career in Italy. Karts remain his passion, even though the inevitable move to single seaters brought him the 2005 Renault World Series championship and a test drive with the French team, which paved the way for his leap to F1. “That time was the best time of my life. I enjoyed what I was doing, I was really on it, I was having a lot of fun," said Kubica, who hasn’t really had time to savor his successes this season with the added media coverage and sponsor expectations following the victory in Montreal. “I was not really, at that time I was not realizing what I had achieved. Now, 10 years after, I say, this was really good, I’m really proud of it. Most probably it will become the same with now. Now I’m not thinking about Canada. ... Maybe in 5-10 years, maybe I will get the feeling and I will go back and say, ‘Wow, this was great.’“ Those days bear a direct relation to the present, as Kubica comes to grips with the rising stardom that has made him one of Poland’s biggest sports stars. “That’s why privately I’m not going to Poland, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because in the end it’s my home and I miss, to be honest, this kind of freedom that I had five years ago," he said. “Last time I went jogging in Poland I couldn’t run for five minutes without somebody who was asking me something or stopping me. “It’s nice but, in the end, when I’m at home I have some job to do ... which I need quiet atmosphere to do." At the track, poker helps Kubica take his mind off things, with friendly games on the Friday or Saturday nights before a race against up to nine other drivers, including Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella. Kubica’s aggressive driving style even rubs off outside the track on the poker table. “I want to see the face of the players," he said. “I think it’s good, it’s also what you do on the weekend to relax at the track and stop thinking. ..." Hill can’t imagine BMW-Sauber matching McLaren or Ferrari quickly enough to keep Kubica. “There comes a point where drivers want to be in F1 to win. They will demand to have the equipment to do that," said Hill, the 1996 F1 champion said. “I think BMW have a strategy which is ambitious but at the moment they are not quite in the front line of FormulaOne." The German manufacturer better hurry since Kubica, who is eager to take up rallying, isn’t envisioning a Michael Schumacher-like career that will last into his late thirties. “I’m still young, so I will see," he said. “I would like to do something in my life as a goal but we will see." – AP