Robert Kubica says the magnitude of his efforts to ensure his return to F1 has been overshadowed by his current performance difficulties with Williams.
Earlier this year, Kubica completed a sensational comeback to the sport he was forced to leave back in 2011 after a devastating rally crash cut short the Pole's career in F1.
Years of revalidation and hard work, and a series of on-track tests gradually put Kubica back in the saddle, a reserve role with Williams eventually leading to a full-time comeback in 2019, but one that has seen him consistently qualify and race at the back of the field.
"I am not regretting what I decide," Kubica told Motorsport.com.
"Frustration is not a correct word, because in the end it is still better being here than sitting on the sofa and watching Formula 1 on the television.
"Definitely I would be more happy if I was fighting higher up and having less problems.
"But all in all, in these last months, unfortunately this difficult situation puts a lot of shadow on what I achieved and how big achievement it was for me to be back here.
"This is something which I also forget, because Formula 1 is a fast sport and everything happens very fast, so you somehow live day-by-day.
"You forget that in the end I achieved something which I was working on for many years."
Contrary to many, Kubica never considered his comeback as an end in itself, insisting his target is to race competitively in the thick of the field.
Alas, Williams' limitations this season have painfully curbed those ambitions.
"I even had people in Abu Dhabi [after he was confirmed in Williams' line-up for 2019] saying 'Well, congratulations, big job [done]'.
"Because the comeback was achieved. And I said 'well, the difficult [part] starts now'."
"In the past you had up and downs, but you knew that if you manage to sort few things you will be competitive," he said.
"Now we are so far behind, that even if the others they have downs or they have [difficulties], they have so big margin on us, that anyway we are not even in touch with them.
"This is something which probably is most annoying."
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