Why Ferrari should sign Kubica

If you were the boss of the Renault Formula 1 team, would you be adding oxygen to the speculation that once-grievously injured Robert Kubica could make a sensational grand prix return against what should be the longest of all odds? No, of course you wouldn't.

Which is exactly why Cyril Abiteboul's carefully cast speculation fire-blanket in Baku should be treated with a degree of scepticism. He's not about to tell us that Kubica is absolutely ready to race again at the highest level, and that amazingly he's as fast as he ever was - even if he is.

Which he is, by the way. At least according to those who witnessed his very special test in a 2012 E20 at Valencia in early June.

If there is any chance of Renault signing Kubica for 2018 - which there should be - Abiteboul wouldn't be daft enough to give any hint right now.

Not only would it create an unnecessary media storm in the middle of a tricky season during which the team is trying to quietly get on with the job of reviving a sleeping giant, it would also alert its rivals to the incredible coup - not only in terms of feel-good PR, but more importantly in pure performance potential - Renault could be about to pull off.

And chief among those rivals who should be paying attention is Ferrari. If the Prancing Horse's ears aren't already quivering to Kubica's possibilities, it needs a good spur in the rear haunches.

Right here, right now, Ferrari should be in full pursuit of a Kubica signature on a contract, just as it was long ago when the Pole was being lined up to join Fernando Alonso at the team for 2012.

Why? Because Kubica, the driver Alonso of all men has rated above his peers, is special. And please note, not was special. The present tense is entirely intentional.

If the run at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit on June 6 had been purely an act of benevolence towards a much-loved and respected figure - like Alex Zanardi's emotional Indycar laps at the Lausitzring just two years after he lost his legs at the German oval - no one would have begrudged Renault a rich well of publicity had it sought it.

But the team didn't do that. Because instead of an act of charity for a driver who almost lost his right arm in that horrible Ronde di Andora Rally crash in 2011, this was a genuine performance test. Renault was evaluating Kubica's abilities just as it would any potential talent, rising or otherwise.

Was this just for Robert's sake, to 'scratch an itch' and allow him to prove primarily to himself that he could still handle an F1 car? Pull the other one. Much as affection clearly flows strongly from this team towards its former driver, F1 outfits don't go to these lengths for nothing more than an indulgence to emotion.

Long and short runs, qualifying simulations, stints with high and low fuel loads, adding up to an impressive total of 115 laps over the course of a day during which he bettered a time set by third and reserve driver Sergey Sirotkin...

No wonder my colleague Anthony Rowlinson - the only working journalist privileged to have been in attendance and whose story of that day you can read in the August issue of F1 Racing - returned raving about what he'd just witnessed.

This was certainly a special day in the life of Robert Kubica. More importantly, it was potentially a monumental one in the history of grand prix racing.

As Anthony's story tells us, Renault's veteran sporting director Alan Permane, who wouldn't have dreamed of missing this test for anything, left Valencia convinced Kubica is back in the most complete sense. The right wrist might have its limitations in movement, but with a specially adapted steering wheel that allows him to change up and down the gears with his left hand, Robert is clearly in Death Star mode: in other words, fully armed and operational.

Imagine what this could mean for F1. A driver of potential world title-winning calibre has boomeranged back into the driver market, unexpectedly and just when he might be most needed.

Renault had the humanity, and more importantly the good sense, to give him his shot down at Valencia, so should have first dibs on his talents. Come to think of it, if Abiteboul is as razor-sharp as he likes to appear he'll already have Kubica's scribble on something resembling a pre-contract.

But if Renault wavers, if there is any possibility that Kubica is available, Ferrari should swoop in.

Why? Think about it.

Beyond the coincidence that Kubica would almost certainly have become a Ferrari driver had he not crashed into the end of that cruelly unforgiving steel barrier in February 2011, the Scuderia is surely crying out for a new topliner to shake things up for next season, even if we begin with the assumption that Sebastian Vettel isn't about to jump to Mercedes now The Reds are quick again.

Kimi Raikkonen, as inconceivable as it might seem, could remain for a fifth season of this so-far winless second career at the team.

And yet he's currently 6-2 down on qualifying compared with his team-mate and 80 points behind after just eight races.

He's still fast. Sometimes. But it's hardly a compelling case.

Unless he starts matching Valtteri Bottas point-for-point PDQ, the 2007 champion could potentially lose Ferrari a constructors' title this year.

The trouble is the options of who could replace him don't exactly throw up a bunch of nailed-on, sure-fire winners and serial points scorers.

The youth vote is said to appeal to Ferrari's hierarchy. It is said top man Sergio Marchionne favours early-season Sauber debutant Antonio Giovinazzi, while team principal Maurizio Arrivabene leans towards Formula 2 championship leader Charles Leclerc. But at this stage of their careers, both would surely be a punt for a Ferrari team back in title-winning form.

What about the proven race winners? Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo would undoubtedly be tough to prise away from Red Bull, although what a signing (and a story) either would be. Alonso? In our dreams. He returned to McLaren, but surely there's no way back to Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz Jr is a more realistic proposition and appears to have the stuff to take the next step. But we've said the same for years about Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean, and Ferrari has yet to be convinced. This particular ship might well have sailed for those two, though that might be an unpalatable truth for both of them.

So with all of that added context, we come back to Kubica. How about it?

Understandably, Ferrari would need solid proof that he is still the same driver the team once craved.

Therefore it should get it. Assuming Abiteboul hasn't tied him down, Kubica should be invited to Fiorano for a Corsa Cliente run as soon as possible - then Ferrari's engineers could see what Permane and co have already witnessed.

It might be hard to believe, but that day at Valencia suggests this is genuinely more than wishful thinking.

Robert Kubica, six years on from pain and devastation, could still be the F1 game changer he was always destined to be.