Robert Kubica's return to a full-time Formula 1 race seat at the start of 2019 appeared to be the fulfilment of a dream for the Pole, who suffered life-changing injuries in a serious rallying accident at the start of 2011.
But multiple performance issues with the Williams FW42 have combined to make his fairytale return to the championship closer to a nightmare in the first four races of the season.
Kubica has been the slowest man on track in qualifying and in the race every weekend so far, and he admits that it's been a deeply frustrating return to the grid.
“Our realistic target was to have a smooth start to the season,” Kubica told the official Formula1.com website ahead of next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
“It was important to have positive momentum so that we could focus on improving the car and try to put it into the best performance window.
"Unfortunately the situation at testing was a bit different," he admitted, referring to the disastrous pre-season visit to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya where the FW42 wasn't even ready in time to take part in the first two days of February's official first test.
"It was very disappointing," the Pole agreed, in something of a massive case of understatement in the circumstances.
"It put the team and myself in a complicated situation," he continued. "The first test in Barcelona was the most important test of my life, as I’m coming back after a long time.
"It was my only chance to focus on myself, to get knowledge about the car and to prepare for my return," he explained. "[Instead] I have had to use the first Grands Prix to recover and to understand the things I was supposed to understand in Barcelona.
"On the other hand, it’s a good thing that this has happened now, and that we can try to understand what is going on."
But despite everything, Kubica remains confident that he's made the right decision to sign up with Williams - and he insists that he has no regrets about returning to F1 in 2019.
“This might sound strange, but I’m enjoying being back," he said. "I’m happy to help, happy to get involved if I’m asked.
"It’s probably because I was away for a long time. I know we are struggling, and we are slow, and the races are difficult, but I enjoy it.
“You have to accept it and then react to the situation you find yourself in," he added. "Sometimes from difficult situations you can still find the positive, although for most people it's not an easy thing to do.
"I have to make sure that I improve as a driver. I have learned a lot. Now I have to try to build up better performance in myself and I have to improve.
"It would be good to have less to worry about. That would make me feel far more comfortable, and would allow me to focus more on performance. That's really what we need."
Kubica insisted that despite the criticism he's faced for being slower than his rookie teammate George Russell in the same car, he's doing better than the raw timing data would suggest.
But that still doesn't change the dire straights that Williams is in as a whole.
"No one in the team is happy about the situation, and we would all like to see Williams further up the grid," Kubica acknowledged. "All of us are trying to do our best with what we have
"But when you see such a big offset in car behaviour and you know it’s limiting you a lot as a driver, it’s difficult.
"We need to find a solution. Hopefully it will take less time than we think.”
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