After a complicated 2019 year for him with Williams, Robert Kubica joined the Alfa Romeo team as a development driver in 2020.

Expected to join Haas in 2020, it was finally at Alfa Romeo that Robert Kubica set down his boots this season and the Pole did not come empty-handed, joining the Swiss team with his personal sponsor PKN Orlen, a fairly lucrative deal for the ex Sauber team no doubt.

After a 2019 season with Williams as a regular driver, Kubica will now move to a position as a development driver for Alfa Romeo and will help Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi develop the C39 throughout the year with technical feedback.

“I am really happy to start this new chapter of my career by joining Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN. I am really happy to start this new chapter of my career by joining Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN,” said Robert Kubica.

“This team has a special place in my heart and I am happy to see some faces still here from my years in Hinwil. 

“Time and circumstances are obviously different, but I am convinced that I will find the same determination and hunger to succeed. I look forward to helping Alfa Romeo Racing take the next step. ”

Alfa Romeo Team Director Fred Vasseur says he is delighted to welcome one of the “most brilliant drivers of his generation. ”

“We are also delighted to welcome Robert home and look forward to working with him. ” says Vasseur.

“He is a driver who needs no introduction: one of the most brilliant of his generation and one who has shown the true meaning of human determination in his fight to get back in the race after his rally accident (in 2011). ”

“His feedback will be invaluable as we continue to push our team to the front of the grid. ” concludes the boss of Alfa.

Kubica says “closing a chapter” by returning to Formula 1 was worth it

Kubica says that although the season was not what he and Williams had hoped for, his “nearly impossible” return was “definitely a good achievement”.

“I was kind of split, honestly, and I think by coming back to Formula 1 I closed a chapter, which was probably the most important one from my life,” said Kubica when asked how he would assess the season.

“Looking where I was, looking at the period I went through with the circumstances of what happened and what the consequence was of the accident in 2011.

“Then of course, once you are back in F1, you reopen or continue the chapter which is Formula 1 which is probably a difficult one to talk because the season has been very complicated.

“You live for achieving and coming back to Formula 1 and want to do good in races and want to deliver, you want to be racing, and this is something which I think I missed most this year.

“I’m a person who is living for challenges, which is living for trying to achieve the targets and trying to achieve what your path is.

“If I arrive after many years being away from sport to try to be back in F1, it means that this was my objective.

“I did want to try to see if I was able to drive and I am able to be back, although I have been away for a long time and I have limitations. [But] if I have to answer if it was worth it, I say yes.”

“It was about personal satisfaction, and this is something which I will keep for most of my years, and I think for my whole life.” concludes Kubica.