09/02/2011
NEWS STORY
While we wait and see just how long Robert Kubica will be out of action, and as his team ponders his (hopefully temporary) replacement, a leading moptorsport lawyer has warned that lessons will be learned following the Pole's accident.
"The last thing that Robert Kubica should be worrying about at the moment is his contract," Dominic Crossley, a partner at motorsport law firm Collyer Bristow, told Pitpass, "and of course we all wish him a speedy recovery from his injuries. The horrendous crash he suffered in the Skoda Fabia he was driving in the Ronde di Andora rally has ruined his ambitions for the 2011 F1 season, at the very least. As a hugely talented young racing driver, with the world at his feet, he needs all his strength and positivity to get through the weeks and months of rehabilitation as best he can.
"Although there have been questions raised as to why he was allowed to compete in this rally only shortly before the beginning of the F1 season, he is by no means unique in pursuing non-core sporting competition in the off season. In the days of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, drivers would jump into a car in any series that gave them a chance of winning. Those days have almost gone (even Ken Tyrrell was well known, in later years, for not allowing his drivers to undertake other forms of motor sport) but not entirely. We know of Kimi Raikkonen's snowmobile and powerboat races when at the very top of the sport. He emerged entirely unscathed. However, Mark Webber (mountain biking) and Pablo Montoya (motorbike - allegedly) picked up problematic injuries through other activities.
"The noises from Kubica's team have been encouraging," Crossley continued. "Eric Boullier, the team principal, admitted that Kubica's participation in the rally was with the team's blessing. Whilst it would be normal for teams to have a term in their contract with the driver preventing him from being involved in any other sporting competition, it is also normal for that clause to have a mechanism by which the team can grant consent in specific circumstances. Unusually for as commercialised a sport as Formula 1, teams appear to grant such consent notwithstanding the risks it poses. It may well be that such consent will be more difficult to obtain from here on. Renault, the Skodia Fabia team, Kubica's managers, sponsors and insurers will all be poring over the various contracts so as to assess the financial impact of this injury. Lessons will be learnt and that lesson may well be to curb the "true racer" spirit that Boullier described of Kubica, sad though it may seem.
"It is not always helpful to compare Formula 1 with other sports but can you imagine Alex Ferguson allowing Wayne Rooney to turn out for his local rugby club? It's an absurd thought, perhaps to the detriment of the sport it concerns."