Jam tomorrow

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My heart goes out to Robert Kubica.

This time last year, he was fighting for the F1 world title. At one stage, he even led the championship. Things were going brilliantly for him, he was driving well and people were saying some very good things about him. Fast forward to 2009 and where is he? Nowhere. Where's the press coverage and hype about his talents? Nowhere. It's as if he's fallen off the face of the planet. What went wrong?

From what I've read, halfway through the 2008 season, BMW decided to shift their development efforts to the 2009 car, despite the success they were enjoying in 2008. The effect of this was that their 2008 season quietly tailed off, taking their #1 driver from championship leader to frustrated also-ran. If I were Kubica, I would've been mad as all hell.

What makes it even worse is that, while Honda adopted the same approach and built a pretty awesome car for 2009, BMW completely failed to capitalise on their long development time for the 2009 car. Despite this advantage, their car is a complete dud. Consequently, no-one is talking about Robert Kubica any more. If I were a rival team owner, I'd be seriously considering luring him away from BMW while his stock is (undeservedly) low. He's still an awesome driver and I really hope he bounces back in 2010. Fingers crossed for the lanky Pole.

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