Though, on paper, his return to F1, eight years after his life-threatening rally crash, suggests that Robert Kubica failed, the fact is that, as he recently admitted, he silenced the sceptics, those that believed his injuries would prevent him performing at the highest level again.

And while the Pole isn't the same talent we witnessed first time around, his cause was hardly helped by the equipment at his disposal.

Having opted to quit a full-time F1 race seat next season, Kubica still wants to be involved in the sport, and with financial backing in the form of Orlen, which wants to remain involved in F1, it is believed that Racing Point has joined Haas in seeking his services as a test and reserve driver.

Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, the Pole admitted that he is also looking at DTM.

"The decision from my side has been taken," he said. "I don't want to go too much into the details now. It's a bit complicated, and we have to make sure we make it work from different perspectives and different points.

"I'm pretty optimistic," he continued, "and although not everything depends from my side, and it has been more complicated because I would like to combine different programmes, it requires a bit more work and it is a bit more of compromises.

"My racing programme is 100% up to me," he insisted. "My F1 role, of course there is second part, which is Orlen. They would like to stay in Formula 1 and we want to see if we can match everything together as it would be beneficial for everyone. So sometimes it takes more time than only my decision.

"I'm looking for a big challenge, and definitely DTM, which is the (series which has the) highest probability that I will be racing in, it's probably the toughest championship apart of Formula 1 in Europe.

"Let's put it this way, if I manage to race there, I would be happy with it - and if we manage to combine a few things to make everybody happy, I'm open to this."

Check out our Thursday gallery from Yas Marina, here.