What if Kubica's rally crash never happened?

This wasn't how it happened. But it could have been had fortune been kinder to Robert Kubica.

Kubica was frustrated at the start of the 2011 season, having been unable to contest January's Monte Carlo Rally because employer Renault did not have an S2000-spec car for him and would not allow him to drive a rival manufacturer's car. His planned runout in a Skoda Fabia in the Ronde di Andora Rally between the first and second pre-season Formula 1 tests was also nixed.

But other than being prevented from dabbling in rallying when there was a gap in the F1 schedule, things were looking up. After moving to Renault in 2010 and enjoying a strong season in a car that was good enough for the odd podium but not race wins, expectations were high for the coming campaign.

Topping the first test at Valencia was a good start for the R31, which featured an innovative front-exit exhaust designed to blow the floor and give a downforce boost. The early stages of the season went pretty well, with Kubica taking four podium finishes in the first six races. The only disappointment was that wins were again out of reach.

Things were to get much worse, since the forward-facing exhaust proved to be a less rich development vein to mine than technical director James Allison had anticipated. That, combined with the characteristics of the new Pirelli tyres, which put a greater emphasis on downforce at the rear of the car and reduced the potential benefit to be gained from blowing the whole floor, limited Renault's development rate. With such exhaust systems to be banned in 2012, Renault switched to a conventional exhaust and results trailed off.

Kubica himself had a brilliant season, but the podiums became rarer and he had to be satisfied with some virtuoso drives to ever-more-modest points positions. But by then it was clear that his future lay away from Enstone. Since Ferrari driver Felipe Massa had made a solid but unspectacular start to the 2011 season, the management at Maranello made good on its longstanding interest in Kubica by giving him a three-year deal (two years plus an optional third) to join Fernando Alonso for 2012.

Alonso and Kubica had struck up a close friendship long before they linked up at Ferrari, so the relationship gelled well immediately. But both drivers had a battle on their hands to get the best out of the recalcitrant and (early in the season) ill-handling F2012.

Kubica and Alonso took turns as Ferrari's spearhead, but neither could stay quite close enough to Sebastian Vettel to take the battle for the world championship down to the wire. Although, as many pointed out, had they not taken so many points off each other it might just have been possible for one or the other to have done so.

But they did get some great results and Kubica's first Ferrari victory came with an astonishing drive at Monaco, turning in one of the great qualifying laps to take pole position and then hold off the quicker Red Bulls.

The Kubica/Alonso axis held unusually strong sway at Ferrari and they persuade the team to focus on the 2014 regulations far earlier than planned

The duo claimed two wins apiece, but the bottom line was that the car simply wasn't good enough and was flattered by two dazzling drivers dragging sensational performances from it.

While Kubica was briefly courted by Mercedes for 2013, this was always going to be a long shot given the difficulty of extracting him from his contract. Had Niki Lauda not persuaded Lewis Hamilton during the '12 Singapore GP weekend that Mercedes was the place to go, sources indicated that Mercedes might have made a big move for the Pole. But it wasn't to be, and Kubica, while disappointed by Ferrari's season, was happy to stay on.

The 2013 season was similarly low-key. The car was strong early on, with Alonso and Kubica taking a win apiece, but Ferrari gradually slipped back to become less competitive.

Amid the usual internal politics in Maranello, the Kubica/Alonso axis held unusually strong sway thanks to the duo's close alliance. Collectively, along with the technical leadership, they persuaded the team to put greater emphasis on developing its 2014 car and engine package for the new regulations far earlier than was originally planned.

This compromised 2013, but Ferrari was confident of being in better shape come the '14 season. It was also a rare case of chairman Luca di Montezemolo allowing his drivers to have a big influence on the path taken by the team, something that hadn't been seen since the days of Michael Schumacher.

Alonso and Kubica qualified second and third in Australia behind Lewis Hamilton and ahead of the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. When Hamilton retired early on, the way was clear for a Ferrari win. But it wasn't front-row starter Alonso who won, as Kubica's move at Turn 1 led to a wheelbanging moment between the two Ferraris and forced Alonso off track and back behind Rosberg.

The significance of this moment wasn't clear at the time, but it sowed the seeds of what was to follow. While Alonso and Kubica dealt with it well and remained able to work with each other, the dynamic in the team was changing. Ferrari was not as competitive as Mercedes over the season, but there was the odd win here and there. After a one-two in Austria, when both Mercedes drivers made errors in qualifying and spent too much time getting past the two Williams drivers who had locked out the front row, it got political.

Just as in 2012, had Kubica and Alonso not taken so many points off each other, one of them could at least have been within double-points range of the championship lead in the Abu Dhabi season finale. But by then, both drivers felt Ferrari's top brass was focusing on politics rather than performance, and that various senior personnel were getting behind one driver or the other. Kubica and Alonso were caught in the middle amid big changes at the top of Ferrari.

While Kubica kept his head down and tried to focus on pushing the team technically, Alonso fell out with new chairman Sergio Marchionne, saying during a particularly heated meeting some things that he couldn't take back. Alonso resolved to leave.

The driver market flared up unexpectedly: Sebastian Vettel was pushing for a move from Red Bull to Ferrari, but the Maranello management favoured a support act to Kubica rather than an equal number one, which meant buying Valtteri Bottas out of his Williams deal. Still, it was clear that Vettel's place at Red Bull was becoming untenable.

McLaren, meanwhile, was chasing a star driver for the exciting renewal of its Honda alliance and Eric Boullier dedicated huge amounts of time to trying to persuade Alonso and Vettel of the wisdom of a move there.

In the end, while Boullier favoured Alonso, the baggage of the Spaniard's previous stint with McLaren led to the team's ownership pushing through a deal with Vettel when it had the choice of the two superstar drivers to put alongside Jenson Button.

With Kubica well established as Ferrari's spearhead, Alonso was left with no choice but to throw his lot in with Renault for 2016

While Alonso sought refuge with a one-year deal to become Kimi Raikkonen's team-mate at a resurgent Williams, Ferrari progressed well and Kubica was again strong enough to win races 2015. Thanks to the team switching from its original timeline to focus on power unit development earlier than intended back in 2012, the Ferrari package was strong.

With Bottas offering very strong support, Kubica finally had his run at the title against old karting rivals Hamilton and Rosberg. As Rosberg faded, it boiled down to Hamilton versus Kubica in the '15 season final in Abu Dhabi. But the Mercedes always had a marginal advantage, and Hamilton's victory was enough to condemn Kubica to second.

Amid much mirth that Alonso had traded a strong team for one that only allowed him to pick up a handful of podium finishes, Kubica was well-established as Ferrari's spearhead.

This left Alonso with no choice but to throw his lot in with Renault for 2016, convinced by a combination of his lack of proven options and promises of significant investment and long-term progress that would allow him to fight for the title in the third year of his return - 2018.

Ferrari continued its slow upward curve in 2016, and while Hamilton should have won the championship, Mercedes' unreliability enabled Kubica to steal in and grab the title. Second place in Abu Dhabi was enough for him to take the crown, making Hamilton's engine failure in the Malaysian GP the decisive turning point.

Which brings us to today. Kubica has a 14-point lead in the championship over Lewis Hamilton, with Rosberg still chasing that elusive world championship, and Ferrari team-mate Bottas both hanging in there just behind.

Of course, none of this ever happened. Much of it might never have happened. But Kubica's performance for Renault in last week's test is a reminder of what might have been. However this timeline might have worked out, you can be certain Kubica would have won a lot of races and, given the machinery, won a world championship.

Even if the impossible were to happen and he were to return, this is the kind of career he will never get back. And grand prix racing is all the poorer for it.