01/08/2017
NEWS STORY
Ahead of his track debut in a contemporary F1 car on Wednesday, Robert Kubica has overcome another of the prospective hurdles as he bids to make a full return to the grid.
The FIA has confirmed that yesterday, the Pole passed the mandatory test, which, according to Article 13.1.4 of the technical regulations stipulates that: "From his normal seating position, with all seat belts fastened and whilst wearing his usual driving equipment, the driver must be able to remove the steering wheel and get out of the car within 5 seconds and then replace the steering wheel in a total of 10 seconds.
"For this test, the position of the steered wheels will be determined by the FIA technical delegate and after the steering wheel has been replaced steering control must be maintained."
There were fears that due to the Pole's restricted mobility in his right arm, which was almost severed in the rallying crash that almost claimed his life in February 2011, he might struggle with the test, but these fears proved to be unfounded.
Tomorrow's outing in the 2017 Renault is the latest step in the Pole's determined bid to resume his F1 career, following successful outings in a 2012 car at Valencia and Paul Ricard along with time in the Renault and Mercedes simulators.
While Renault has continually played down the previous tests, the fact that it has given the Pole a whole day of valuable in-season testing demonstrates that his bid to return is being taken a lot more seriously.
As today's testing got underway, fans of the Pole were already arriving at the circuit preparing for his much anticipated debut tomorrow.
Check out our Tuesday gallery from Hungary, here.
Kubica Picture Credit: Renault Twitter