Where would Robert Kubica have come?

[bgroovers]

Congratulations to Vitaly Petrov and Renault on a great 3rd place in Australia today, the R31 looked great today and Petrov got a great result and made Heidfeld look awful even taking into account his qualifying woes and damage in the race.
Everyone has been lauding Petrov and his terrific performance however all i can think is what could Robert Kubica have done with the r31 this weekend?
In 2010 Robert out qualified Petrov by an average of .75 seconds! that would have put him 4th on the grid! And he generally finished at least 20 seconds ahead of our Russian star in 2010... Why does anyone think that this would have been any different today. Yes Petrov got a great result but there is no evidence that he has improved relative to Robert Kubica over the winter. Nick Heidfeld has managed to make him appear to be a new born star by royally messing up his qualifying and start of the race and having bad luck with KERS but come on. Robert Kubica would have gotton so much more out of this car and race. Id go as far as to say he could have beaten Lewis and had a go at Vettel for the lead!
However we will never know... but here last years results:
Bahrain Kubica 11th Petrov DNF
Australia Kubica 2nd Petrov DNF
Malaysia Kubica 4th Petrov DNF
China Petrov 25.4. seconds behind
Spain Kubica 8th Petrov 11th
Monoco Kubica 3rd 1.6seconds off win Pretrov DNF might have finish 9th
Turkey Petrov 35 seconds plus 3 positions behind
Canada Petrov 2 laps behind
European Petrov 21sends behind
British GP Kubica DNFs whilst fighting for 4th would have finished at least 30 seconds ahead
Germany Both lapped Kubica 7th Petrov 10th
Hungry Kubica DNF whilst behind Petrov
Belgium petrov 20.4 seconds behind
Italy petrov 25 seconds behind
Singapore Kubica Petrov at least 46.3 seconds behind
Japan Both DNF
Korea Kubica 5th Petrov crash
Brazil kubica lapped petrov crash
ABU DHABI Petrov 4.5 seconds behind with drive of his life!
On average Robert Kubica beat Petrov by 0.75 of a second in Qualifying in 2010

What do you think?

[manchild]

First race of season 2005 was won by Fisichella, Alonso dominated the rest of the season, Fisichella never won another race. So, no one can tell, especially since in 2010. Petrov was clearly No.2 driver without identical car updates and no experience with many circuits. He hasn't matured over winter, testing isn't enough to become mature, but the second half of previous season was. It was obvious and crowned by Alonso's failure to overtake him in his WDC chase race.

I do think that Kubica would have done better job, but what we have is what we have, and we'll never know. I'm satisfied with this, especially since it is the beginning of the season.

[ringo]

Robert would not have finished any better. Look at the gap between Petrov and Hamilton.
Petrov is the new #1 now. He is doing the maximum so far.

As it relates to Robert vs petrov pace. Petrov was a rookie last year, so it's not really convincing to use qualifying gaps from last year to give Robert a false sense of superiority.
Petrov did beat him twice last year. That shows Petrov is probably just as fast, but only need some confidence and experience to put his races together.

Kubica never had a fast teammate to prove he is one of the fastest, he's probably lucky he's out for 2011. He narrowly dodged Petrov opening up a can of whoopass on him today.

[xDama]

Where would Kubica have come?

No one knows and no one will ever know. End of thread.

[myurr]

Yes Petrov got a great result but there is no evidence that he has improved relative to Robert Kubica over the winter

There's no evidence to say otherwise either. Throughout the weekend Petrov has looked at home in the Renault and even if Kubica had a tenth or so on him, as was more usual when Petrov was at his best, then he wouldn't have been able to better Petrov's result.

[Byronrhys]

IBTL.

[andrew]

Well if anyone has a Tardis to hand, we can maybe make the jump to a paralell universe where Kubica had never crashed whilst rallying and he would have been fit and well and taking part in this years F1 shenanigans.

Unfortunately no such working device exists (to the best of my knowledge) so we will never know. Anything else is just idle speculation.

[Goran2812]

Where would Kubica have come?

No one knows and no one will ever know. End of thread.

+1

[mx_tifoso]

^ +1

There's no point in arguing about something totally impossible to figure out. He's in a state of recovery and that's all there is to it, past performance differences don't mean anything.

[Ciro Pabón]

[Tamburello]

Robert would not have finished any better. Look at the gap between Petrov and Hamilton.
Petrov is the new #1 now. He is doing the maximum so far.

As it relates to Robert vs petrov pace. Petrov was a rookie last year, so it's not really convincing to use qualifying gaps from last year to give Robert a false sense of superiority.
Petrov did beat him twice last year. That shows Petrov is probably just as fast, but only need some confidence and experience to put his races together.

Kubica never had a fast teammate to prove he is one of the fastest, he's probably lucky he's out for 2011. He narrowly dodged Petrov opening up a can of whoopass on him today.

When Hamilton beats his teammate it's because he's inherently faster but when Kubica beats his teammate to a pulp, it's because the other guy's a rookie. You don't make much sense. Petrov has speed, for sure, but Kubica was on a different level before his accident.

[jamsbong]

I think that Petrov have really shown he is a good driver and he can score points and podiums. I think Kubica will still be fast, but I don't think there will be such a big gap Kubica and Petrov anymore.

To me, Nick Heidfeld is a big surprise to be so slow.

[ringo]

Robert would not have finished any better. Look at the gap between Petrov and Hamilton.
Petrov is the new #1 now. He is doing the maximum so far.

As it relates to Robert vs petrov pace. Petrov was a rookie last year, so it's not really convincing to use qualifying gaps from last year to give Robert a false sense of superiority.
Petrov did beat him twice last year. That shows Petrov is probably just as fast, but only need some confidence and experience to put his races together.

Kubica never had a fast teammate to prove he is one of the fastest, he's probably lucky he's out for 2011. He narrowly dodged Petrov opening up a can of whoopass on him today.

When Hamilton beats his teammate it's because he's inherently faster but when Kubica beats his teammate to a pulp, it's because the other guy's a rookie. You don't make much sense. Petrov has speed, for sure, but Kubica was on a different level before his accident.

Kubica is faster, but that was then in 2010, there is no evidence to suggest Petrov would not have matched him this year.
As it is Kubica is no longer in F1, we don't even know if he will return.
He must be pounding his fists in his hospital bed watching Petrov celebrate on the podium. Kubica did himself in, and petrov is making the best of it.

I think this whole thread has an envious tone to it.
Reality is starting to hit home that risky activities like rallying don't pay off in the long run for F1 pilots. Right as the accident happened, everyone was supporting his decision to rally, now that Vitaly is looking like a star in the R31 they're finally understanding what Kubica is missing out on.
Petrov may get a win this year and many more podiums. By the time time Kubica comes back, he'll be so rusty Renault will have no choice but to keep Petrov as de facto #1.

[draad]

It has been speculated for many years now that the second benetton/renault/group lotus renault car is the worst place to be in on the grid if you are the second driver. Maybe all the problems that Heidfeld suffered are down to him driving the "second" car even though he has the lower number.

Speculation is always fun and excuses are easily made, but you can't determine anything with any accuracy with only one measurement. Third place is great for Petrov and Heidfeld's race was just shitty. But it says nothing about someone who isn't there. There are just way too many factors that come into play

All in all, the first race of the season is rarely indicative of form in the rest of the season. Fisichella even won the race in a Renault in 2005. Let's just be postive and just hope Petrov and Heidfeld do well and Kubica makes a brilliant comeback.

[PlatinumZealot]

Kubica isn't looking so smart now is he? lol

Looking forward to Renault's first win for 2011!!