Kubica: Spa chances hinge on F-duct

The French car manufacturer is introducing its blown wing concept for the first time at Spa-Francorchamps - at a track where the straight-line speed boost it provides could be a big help.

And Kubica reckons that the advantage the F-duct brings - especially in terms of allowing teams to run more downforce without suffering a drag penalty - will be key to a successful weekend.

"We hope it will work straight away so that we have as much practice time as possible to extract the maximum performance from this system," said Kubica. "We have seen a tendency for cars running the f-duct to use higher downforce levels than normal, because they can stall the rear wing and still generate good top speed.

"I think that will change the approach to Spa, too, because teams will be able to run quite a lot of downforce and still achieve good top speed. Although this is a circuit we all like driving on, it's still a track where car performance is very important."

Kubica had been a dark horse for title glory earlier this season, when his consistent points scoring left him in touch with the leaders, but two non-scores in Silverstone and Hungary have hurt his chances.

The Pole is hoping that the final phase of the season will allow him to return to the form he showed earlier this year though.

"After such a long break, I'm not thinking about the last race but more on what's coming up," he said. "It will be a tough end to the season, because we have just two more races in Europe followed by some long trips to Asia, South America and the Middle East.

"I've been out of luck in the last three races, with no points in Silverstone or Budapest, so I would like to get back to how we were racing earlier in the year: scoring regular points and fighting for good positions. I think the target for myself and the whole team will be to close the gap to the top teams during these races."