The Pole, who broke bones down his right side and severed nerves in his right arm in a rally accident a year ago, is still in a light cast at present after breaking his right leg again earlier this month. But he’s counting down the days to getting back into training.

According to our colleague Pino Allievi, who is in close contact with Kubica, he had started intense training on a bicycle in December and will get back on it soon. He is driving a road car again and has a good range of movement is his right arm, but still has some problems with rotation movements between the elbow and wrist.

According to Allievi, Kubica’s attitude is that either he’s able to come back at 100% of his previous level or he won’t bother. And it will only be if and when he drives a simulator and then a racing car that he will know.

The intense physiotherapy he is undertaking at the moment and the training programme he had started on before the recent leg break show the ferocity of his determination to come back.

The 27 year old, who was recovering from multiple fractures and a partially severed right forearm in a rally accident almost a year ago, slipped on ice near his home and reopened a fracture in his right leg, setting back his rehabilitation further.

According to the BBC he will need an operation to insert a metal screw above his ankle, plus more time in plaster.

Kubica split with his long time doctor and ally Riccardo Ceccarelli before Christmas and was going his own way on rehabilitation from the accident.

With Kubica now out of contract, Ferrari has been monitoring his situation, with some strong Kubica supporters within the team. Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali said that the team had no plans to test the driver in the near future with a view to him replacing Felipe Massa in 2013, as has been widely speculated in Italy,

“Robert is a great driver, but he had very severe injuries and he is still working to get back to normal living, ” said the Ferrari team boss. “We need to wait to see. That kind of injury takes a long time to recover from.”

“Even if I’ve been working very, very hard over the course of the last few weeks, I came to the conclusion that I am not yet certain to be ready for the 2012 season,” Kubica was quoted as saying by LRGP.

However speaking to Italian colleagues last night, Kubica’s manager Daniel Morelli said, “He didn’t say that. He said he will not be ready for the tests at the start of the year. That’s not the same as saying he will miss the season.

“I don’t know why they have changed his words.”

This is all very interesting, as there is a further contradiction with LRGP boss Eric Boullier saying that Kubica will remain part of the Renault family, but Morelli goes on to say that Kubica is a free agent at the end of this year, “The contract doesn’t go to 2012. From 1 January we will be free to go where we want.

“If Robert Kubica comes back it will be because he’s as competitive as he was before and because he’s attractive to top teams.”

Italian colleagues who have spoken extensively with Kubica’s doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli, insist that Kubica will be ready to drive a car again a few months into next year. There have been suggestions that he may even do some GP2 as a form of training. His objective is to come back, but only when he’s sure he’s ready.

What’s important to remember is that the original Kubica contract was signed with the corporate side of the Renault car company, when the manufacturer was still running its own team. It withdrew from F1 at the end of 2009 and over that winter into 2010 Gerard Lopez’ Genii Group bought the team.

Kubica’s contract was transferred, but listening to Morelli over the course of 2011, including his appearances in Monaco and Monza it’s clear that there are some differences of opinion between him and Genii.

As for the Ferrari option, Kubica was always their first choice to replace Felipe Massa and that has remained the case despite his rally accident in February. In the meantime possible replacements like Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Mark Webber have all re-signed with their current teams.

In the meantime, one notable presence in the LRGP area this weekend is former McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan. The 57 year old split with McLaren over the episode where Lewis Hamilton was caught lying to stewards over an incident in the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.

But he is very close to Jackie Stewart, who is retained as a consultant by Genii and it is likely that in advising the team on how to strengthen, he has recommended Ryan, a real disciplinarian and a very experienced racer.

Eric Boullier confirmed this afternoon that Ryan is in Interlagos to “have a look” at how the team operates.

Pressed to explain what exactly he meant by that, he said that he had “no doubts” that the Pole would recover fully from the nerve damage to his right hand sustained in his rally accident in February.

There were some concerns about the range of movement he might have prior to the most recent operation on his right elbow. But having gained full mobility as a result of the intervention, neurosurgeons now say the way is clear for him to recover.

The next steps are that he will undergo four more weeks of intensive therapy to help build muscle strength in his right arm; he is currently doing five to six hours a day, seven days a week.

The target is for Kubica to drive either in an F1 simulator or some kind of racing car in October and then if he feels that he is able to move forward, the team has said it will organise a test in a 2009 F1 car, which is permitted under the testing restriction rules. This would continue until the new season’s testing begins on February 7th 2012.

Morelli made it clear that, although Kubica does not have a contract with the Renault team for 2012, he has had assurances from team boss Eric Boullier that there is a seat for him, if he is able to perform at the same level as before, “Lotus Renault GP has given us assurances that a seat for Robert is definitely available,” he said. Currently that seat is occupied by Bruno Senna, having replaced Nick Heidfeld from Spa onwards. Senna is in for the rest of the season. Morelli said that Kubica will not make a return to the F1 paddock this season and will only do so when he is there “in a helmet” ready to race again.

“It’s good news,” said Morelli. “Now we need nature to do its work. The nerves must complete their recovery. But it’s just a question of time. He will decide when his condition will be okay to drive. He has never lost the feeling that he will be back.”

His functionality and movement is still restricted; he is able to hold objects in his right hand, but not squeeze them and he has been able to use his hands to play video games.

Photo: Darren Heath

Lanza says that the Pole is” definitely fine, generally the situation is
very satisfying.”

What made you decide about letting him leave the hospital?
“It was already scheduled, because you can’t stay for six-seven months in a hospital. After two and a half months, you should expect that. He needed to start his daily life again. I think that nobody wants to stay in a hospital. It was an joint decision, but a plan that we have been working on for some time. We were waiting for him to move by himself: he was limited by some fractures on which he couldn’t put any load and by the shoulder that didn’t let him use crutches. When he gained his independence, it was clear that he wanted to go home.”

What are the plans in the next few months?
“In the next few months he will have to undergo some checks to monitor the healing of the fractures, while he will go on with physioterapy in close locations to his home. Then he will come back to us to check the evolution, more or less monthly.

“Then, for the rehabilitation of the hand, he’s working with physiotherapists. With us, the rehabilitation is less specific and partly already done: the shoulder, for example. The rest will be done by others as well, as his doctor, who has a dedicated center for sports activity (Dr. Ceccarelli).”

As far as his comeback in an F1 car is concerned, what’s
your opinion at the moment?
“You can’t make any predictions. I’d say the perspectives are definitely much better than when we started and this is very important.

“We can’t commit ourselves, but we can’t either dismiss anything. His functional recovery surprised us as well: if this will let him do something very specific as driving a Formula One car, it’s still very difficult to say. But we have the
necessary conditions, even higher than we expected. We can sincerely say we are optimistic that this person could recover a good function of the limb. With the will and the grit he has shown, we can’t rule anything out.

“Remember that the biggest injuries were with the nerves, which have long lead times to heal: at least six months. But we already have encouraging signs of recovery. I think a first time to take stock of the recovery has to be done six months after the accident.

“He’s very motivated. Maybe because of his job, he’s used to have grit in the car and he shows it in all the aspects of life, as well.”

It will be a long road. The nerve injuries were very severe and it will be a miracle if he recovers enough feel to drive an F1 car on the limit as he used to. But clearly Kubica is massively motivated and his career to date shows how he has been able to overcome adversity to reach the top. It’s a fascinating human interest story.

So many JA on F1 readers have been in touch since his accident on Sunday to say that they want to do the same, I’ve been in touch with the Renault team to set up an email address to handle the messages.

You can write to Robert at fans@lotusrenaultgp.com

The team assures me that the messages will be passed on to him at the hospital in Italy, where he is recovering.

Please let him know how you feel, whether you are a Kubica fan or not. He’s a great driver who finds himself in a very difficult place with a very long road back to fitness. He has remarkable determination and will no doubt push hard to come back. But it will be a lonely journey and knowing he has support from fans will only speed up that process. So drop him a line.

The Pole has given his first interview since the injury to Pino Allievi at Gazzetta dello Sport. He says, “The fingers work, the arm as well. But only after working really hard will I know for sure. I’ll be stronger as a driver, in the head. I have to return this year. My right arm feels better now than when I was hit by a drunk seven years ago.”

Interestingly Kubica says that he liked rallying as much as anything else because it helped him to stay sharp with so little F1 testing nowadays. I did wonder about this side effect of the testing ban on drivers.

Photo: Darren Heath

According to specialists I’ve spoken to in London his arm and hand were at risk if the reconnected blood vessels blocked off again in the first few days after surgery. The doctors’ most recent comments suggest that this hurdle has been overcome.

Specialists tell me that over the next 3-6 months the muscles and tendons will be rehabilitated. The repaired nerves will take a year or so to recover and it will not be until about two years that the final result is known. From the surgeons description of repairing both the ulnar and median nerve which are the two nerves, which provide movement and feeling to the hand, there is a very big rehabilitation programme to go through if he wants to get the fine motor skills back to drive an F1 car. But as Rossello said on Sunday night racing drivers have such determination anything is possible.

Kubica showed incredible determination to get to F1, leaving his native Poland for Italy when he was a teenager, sleeping on the floor of the kart factory, bouncing back from a severe injury to his left arm in his F3 days. He will surely give it his best shot.

Tomorrow morning the doctors will operate to repair the fractures in Kubica’s tibia, fibula and shoulder and then early next week – if he continues to recover well – they will work on his fractured elbow.

After that the rehabilitation begins. “An important hurdle was overcome with the stabilisation of Robert, ” his manager Daniel Morelli told Gazzetta dello Sport today. “We have had it confirmed to us that all the operations have gone well now we can start to think about Robert’s rehabilitation, even if for the moment it is hard to evaluate his psychological state. He’s under heavy sedation for the pain.”

Kubica has been visited by many well wishers including Fernando Alonso, Vitaly Petrov, Flavio Briatore and Renault F1 team owner Gerard Lopez, who dropped in yesterday.

If you wish to send your best wishes to Kubica, you can go to Renault’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lotus-Renault-GP-The-Official/173854285966083?ref=ts

Of if you want to send him an email, please check in again tomorrow morning when the Renault team are going to supply us with an official Contact Robert email address to which you can write your messages.

“Not for one second,” replied Boullier, “He could just as easily have been knocked over by a bus. Robert is a racer, he loves cars and he lives for nothing but racing. Competing is his essence. At 14 he slept in a kart factory because he loved racing. From the outset it was agreed among us that Robert would do rallies as well as F1. It was vital for him. His strength comes from that passion. I never thought about the risk. Motor sport is dangerous, but he loves it.”

Photo: Darren Heath

To recap, the latest bulletins from the doctors suggest a horrendous injury to his right arm which caused him to lose a lot of blood and despite some heroics by surgeons, the experts in the field to whom I’ve spoken suggest he may never regain fine motor function in that hand and if so his F1 career is unlikely to continue. Of course there are always miracle comebacks, but that is what will be required here for him to race an F1 car again. Renault disagree and say the doctors are exaggerating and that he will recover within a year.

Kubica was injured in a rally car, when a pole supporting an armco barrier, appears to have pierced the floor of the Skoda he was driving and caused the injury. A freak accident, like the one Frank Williams suffered on the road. A few years ago Kubica walked away from an accident in Montreal which was many times worse in terms of impact energy, but F1 cars are built much more strongly than rally cars.

So why did he do it? Why did he take the risk of losing everything just to satisfy some urge to drive fast? And will this put an end to drivers doing anything but the most safe hobbies in future?

I grew up with a father who was a racing driver. He raced for Team Lotus in the 1960s. If you’ve not lived with it, it’s hard to explain the ‘daredevil gene’ racers have, which forces them to race. It’s a restlessness, a need to challenge oneself. At the margin it’s almost a kind of rage.

I don’t have it, I recognised that early on, but throughout 22 years working in F1 I’ve seen it countless times in the eyes of the racers I’ve encountered. Why else did Valentino Rossi and Kimi Raikkonen do rallies while holding down major roles with leading teams? Why did Jim Clark or Stirling Moss drive every kind of car they could get their hands on?

Juan Manuel Fangio once said, “There are those who keep out of mischief, and there are the adventurers. We racing drivers are adventurers; the more difficult something is, the greater the attraction that comes from it.”

This is the best quote I’ve ever come across to explain why racers race and it also why we love them for it. Nowadays F1 cars are still challenging to drive on the limit, but they are so safe that drivers have become quite matter of fact about the risk in their job.

1970s F1 driver Patrick Depailler used to enjoy hang gliding in his spare time. He had a bad accident and was still recovering from it when he was killed in F1 testing in 1980. No-one would allow an F1 driver today to go hang gliding, but the question is, in this age of ultra professionalism, should drivers be forced to avoid all dangerous sports in their spare time? I think they might after this and a little bit more of that racer spirit will be lost.

This looked set to be a breakthrough year for Renault after two years of struggle. Team owner Gerard Lopez said last summer that he wanted to build the team around Kubica, so should Renault have stopped him taking part in the meaningless rally in Italy which has now put the team’s whole season in jeopardy? Who is going to score 150 plus points for them?

Other team principals I’ve spoken to today say that their drivers would not be able to take part in such activities. Insurance is a big factor. To insure an F1 driver for F1 driving is actually quite cheap now, because the cars are so safe. A team will typically insure a driver against being unavailable to them. So if a driver is unavailable, the insurance company will pay out for his replacement. They may also pay out for his salary.

The driver, on the other hand, will typically insure himself against injury and loss of earnings. The premiums rise significantly the more they take part in dangerous side sports like rallying. Kubica’s manager Daniel Morrelli is a very precise, careful individual and he will no doubt have taken care to ensure that his client was correctly insured.

Bruno Senna is reserve driver and if he has brought money to the team, as has been suggested, that may come with a clause which gives him the drive da facto. If not, Renault may look to someone like Nico Hulkenberg, who will have a clause in his Force India reserve driver contract releasing him if a race seat comes up elsewhere. That is standard. It may be Nick Heidfeld who gets yet another chance.

But one thing’s for sure, Renault will have to look to someone else to drive for them this year.

What's not to smile at? It's going well for Kubica at Renault (Darren Heath)

“It was a straightforward decision for me to continue with a team where I feel at home,” said Kubica. “What’s important for me is to be in the right atmosphere, with a good group of people, where everybody is pulling in the same direction. This is what we have tried to build from the beginning of my time with Renault.

“I think we have already achieved a lot together, and I believe that with plenty of effort, time and the right approach, we can move even further forward. That is certainly our target, so we will keep working hard and pushing on every front, not just for the rest of this season but also for next year when there are more big rule changes on the way. I am really looking forward to the challenge.”

Kubica was open to offers from Ferrari earlier this season, expecting some possible movement in the position of Felipe Massa, but when Ferrari decided to give the Brazilian another two years, Kubica’s options shortened.

It is interesting that he has linked the term of his contract to that of Massa, although paddock speculation is that Massa is actually on a one plus one deal, with the option on Ferrari’s side for the second year. But Ferrari announced it as two to keep the press off his back and keep the pressure off in 2011.

For Renault, holding on to Kubica is an important step. New team owner Gerard Lopez has said he wants to build the team around the Pole, in much the same way as Ferrari built the team around Michael Schumacher in the late 1990s and early 2000s

“We have a three year plan, all budgeted,” Lopez told me last month. “In 2010 we get to the finish, in 2011 we will be more aggressive, we will aim to win. In 2012 we go for the championship. Kubica is a crucial part of the plan.

“He’s a racer, he lives for racing not politics, ” he added. “Robert has a unique opportunity to build a team around him. Few drivers have the talent that he has to do it and few teams would do it with someone.

“Our objective is to ensure that he contributes as much as possible. In his previous team (BMW) one of the big issues with Robert was that he couldn’t communicate as he wanted because he feared the backlash. Here he is being motivated and pushed to speak as much as he can. It’s a good fit. I’ve never seen him smile as much as he does now.”

So let’s take a look at the two main contenders:

Mark Webber
A dominant drive by the veteran Aussie, who is in the form of his life. For the second race in a row he took pole and controlled the race. He had four safety cars to contend with, which cut his lead down to nothing each time.

He made an assured start, not giving Vettel or Kubica a chance to pass and in the opening stint he pulled away rapidly from his team mate. No-one had an answer for his pace and determination this weekend. The question is, can he keep it up? Or will Vettel get on top of him again in Turkey?

Robert Kubica
From the start of practice on Thursday Kubica looked like a man on a mission here. He is always great on tracks lined with walls, but you sensed that he saw this weekend as an opportunity and so it proved. He got second place on the grid and a podium on merit.

He lost a place at the start to Vettel due to starting on the dirty side but this was a monumental weekend for Kubica.

Anyone who stood trackside this weekend watching him would agree. He was ahead of the car, extending it beyond its limits in a quest to do the impossible. It was a really special performance.