Williams F1 Confirms Robert Kubica Will Drive Abu Dhabi Test

Williams has formally stated that the team has not signed Kubica, despite several media outlets claiming the contrary, though it now appears the team is not simply playing coy, as fresh details on the alleged contract suggest things are not finalized, as some claim.

Technical analyst Mark Hughes said in a Facebook interview with Sky Sports F1 that his confidence that Kubica would be driving for the team next year was 98 percent, stating that only some of the finer details of the contract between the team and driver needed to be resolved. In a column published by Motorsport Magazine, Hughes says that the biggest thing preventing the deal from being finalized was an insurance payout, which Kubica presumably received after his then career-ending injuries in the infamous 2011 rally crash which crippled his right arm. 

Of course, even if the financial details are worked out, things going less than stellar at the Abu Dhabi test would still leave the team with a backup option. Motorsport Italy describes recently-dropped Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat as Williams' second choice, though the apparent departure of two of the team's sponsors at the end of the season could require Kvyat to come up with a financial package that competes with that offered by Kubica, should the Polish man underperform next week. Going by Hughes' description of the situation, however, that looks to be the least probable outcome.