RonDennis wrote: ↑13 Dec 2017, 03:09
Squid wrote: ↑13 Dec 2017, 00:44
Yeah, in-season development looks bleak if Williams doesn't have a single experienced driver to provide feedback.
Maybe Kubica could be hired as a development driver?
Yeah, because Sirotkin can't tell if the car is feeling better.
Stop hyping Kubica, he couldn't even beat Heidfeld and he's even worse now. Slower than Hulkenberg, slower, than Sirotkin, slower than Palmer, slower than Massa, slower than Kvyat and slower than Stroll. Do you need more facts? If Williams has any ambitions it should sign Wehrlein, he's the only real talent.
None of what You said are actually facts.
Yes, Sirotkin can't provide feedback as good as Kubica. In Abu-dhabi Sirotkin stepped up the pace on setup proposed by Kubica on tuesday evening, as Robert has not been satisfied with a setup he had to drive with (he was not allowed to change it for himself). Long run times analysis by Mark Hughes suggested Robert had a better pace than Massa, first time in a car, on tires new to him, without a chance to trim the setup. He blew up his 2 low fuel runs o hypersofts (one with traffic, second time scrappy lap - no purples, resulting in only a bit FASTER lap than Strolls Qually), hence now there is no proof of how quick he can actually be right now on official time sheets.
In Hungary Robert had a duel with Sirotkin in 2012 Renault in Valencia earlier this year and iirc he was 0.4s faster, fact even confirmed by SS.
As for Palmer, in hungary testing, where Kubica recorded 0! low fuel runs (confirmed by Renault) he was 4th on timesheets, 0.1s off Palmers best qually time.
I have no knowledge of Kubica and Kvyat ever driving against each other, so its hard to compare them.
BMW has been terrible on Kubica's part of garage, but when he had a car with all wheels in place/not type-mixed/ with proper pressure, with enough fuel, working engine etc, he usually was a bit faster than Heidfeld, who was a very decent driver himself. Still, in 2008 Kubica has even been a championship leader for some time in that BMW (!). Likes of Hamilton, Rosberg and Alonso considered him as as good or better than them. In his last F1 showing before the crash, he topped the chart in preseason tests with Renault. I guess that's where Kubica hype came from, You know.
As Vasconia said, Robert would most likely only improve with mileage and be a valuable asset as a development driver, as for example Mercedes learned when Kubica was in their simulator while they were preparing a 2014 contender iirc.