LONDON – Robert Kubica has joined Alfa Romeo as reserve driver for 2020. The Pole played this role 14 years ago when he made his Formula 1 debut with the Swiss team then known as BMW Sauber.
The deal announced on Wednesday also provides for Polish oil company PKN ORLEN, which supported the 35-year-old’s comeback last season at former champions Williams, to become the team’s co-title sponsor in a multi-year partnership.
Kubica’s big breakthrough came in 2006 when he became Poland’s first F1 racing driver, who replaced Canada’s world champion Jacques Villeneuve at BMW Sauber in 1997 and won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix with them.
The Pole, who suffered a near-fatal rally accident in 2011 in which his right arm was partially severed, scored the sole point for a notable personal comeback last year marred by the team’s inability to deliver a competitive car Heck-Ender Williams.
He announced in September that he would be leaving and has since been replaced by Canadian Nicholas Latifi, the team’s reserve for 2019.
“I am starting a new chapter in my career with Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN. This is a team that has a special place in my heart and it will be nice to see the familiar faces that I still remember from Hinwil”, said Kubica in a statement.
“Time and circumstances are obviously different, but I am convinced that I will find the same determination and hunger to be successful.”
Kubica was also linked to the Haas and Racing Point teams, who had considered him for a role as a tester and simulator driver.
Alfa Romeo’s Ferrari racing drivers this year are the 2007 Finnish world champion Kimi Räikkönen and the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, an unchanged line-up from 2019.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur welcomed Kubica, who was driving for Renault before his accident and was about to become a Ferrari driver, back to the factory in Hinwil.
“He’s a driver who needs no introduction: one of the most brilliant of his generation and one who has shown the real importance of human determination in his struggle to return to racing after his rally accident,” he said.
“His feedback will be invaluable as we move our team forward.”
Alfa Romeo finished last season in eighth place with 57 points.
The team said the PKN ORLEN branding will be seen on the C39 car and all “trackside assets”.
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