Robert Kubica's highly anticipated return to Formula 1 after an eight year gap due to injury might not have been the success everyone had been hoping for, but the Pole isn't prepared to completely give up on his Grand Prix dream just yet.
The Williams FW42 proved the slowest car on track throughout 2019, leaving Kubica stuck firmly at the back in almost every session and race throughout the season.
The 35-year-old driver decided in September to part company with the squad at the end of the season. He's currently looking into opportunities in DTM as well as eyeing up possible F1 test roles at Haas and Racing Point.
But Kubica insists that he isn't shutting the door on a possible comeback to Grand Prix racing in the future, however unlikely it might appear at this point.
"You never know in your life," he told Autosport magazine last week. "If I'm going to be in the paddock, then anything might happen."
However, Kubica acknowledged that it was only a "very slim chance" that he would be able to make a second return to the sport in the future.
"I’m keeping my feet on the ground, and realistically there’s a much higher chance that [Abu Dhabi] was the last race than I will race again. This is a realistic overview."
Kubica made his F1 debut in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with BMW Sauber, completing 57 races and claiming his first victory in Canada in 2008 with the team before moving to Renault at the start of 2010.
An huge off-season rallying accident at the start of 2011 left him with life-changing injuries, but he battled his way back to fitness and into motor racing, and finally returned to F1 with Williams at the start of 2019.
"I think in the last ten years I learned a big lesson," Kubica stated. "Even when everything is under control in your life, [the reality is] I have no control over it.
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"In the past I had a contract for another three years of racing, but I ended up in hospital with half of my body damaged and I nearly lost my life.
"Hopefully this time it will be different," he said, adding that he was glad to have had the opportunity to race in F1 in 2019 despite the disappointing results with only one championship point in Germany.
"I don't regret it," he told FormulaRapida.net. "Nobody had put a gun to me when I was deciding.
“Of course, as a race driver, this season has been very tough," he admitted. "The outcome is not what everybody was hoping for, not only myself, but everyone.
"But that’s life, that’s motorsport, that’s Formula 1. And this is why F1 is so exciting and then so difficult.”
If this does turn out to be the end of his time in F1, there's still new opportunities to look forward to with a successful time in the DTM Young Driver Tests at Jerez this week.
“I had quite a good feeling in the car in the opening laps and this is always good," he commented. You are always looking forward to how your impressions will be and how comfortable you feel in the car regarding how you feel and how the car reacts.
“Of course it is completely different to what I was used to in the past years, but I think it has been a productive day and a good opportunity for me to understand a bit all the key points of this new category for me."
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