Race and classic pictures

Robert Kubica turns 33 today!

Here's wishing former - and possibly future - Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica a very happy 33rd birthday today, December 7.

The Polish driver made his Grand Prix début in 2006 (pictured above). It was the year after he won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. As BMW Sauber's official reserve driver, he was pressed into action at Hungary after Jacques Villeneuve was sidelined with concussion-like symptoms. Kubica qualified in ninth place and finished the wet race in seventh. However, he was subsequently disqualified after his car was deemed underweight.

Even so, he'd impressed the team with his efforts. He stayed in the seat for the rest of the year, picking up his first podium on just his third race outing. He remained with the team for three full seasons after that and claimed his first win in Canada in 2008. In 2010 he moved to Renault and showed season-long consistency, including podiums at Monaco and Spa.

Over the following winter off-season, Kubica was keeping race-sharp by taking part in the Ronde di Andora rally. A serious crash left him with life-changing injuries to his right arm and hand. After intensive physiotherapy he was able to return to motor racing in ERC and WRC rallies. However, Formula 1 appeared to be out of the question.

That's all changed in 2017. Kubica has taken part in a series of tests to see if he's up to the role of full-time driver at Williams in 2017. He has stiff competition in the likes of Sergei Sirotkin, Paul di Resta, Pascal Wehrlein and Daniil Kvyat. Despite that, he remains the front-runner to take over from Felipe Massa.

If the fairy tale comeback were to happen, it would be one heck of a reason for the birthday boy to celebrate!

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.