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Kubica regretting first-lap spin

14 March 2010

Robert Kubica drove a strong race as the 2010 season began in Bahrain on Sunday although the Pole was disappointed to have lost out badly in the second corner incident. Blinded by plumes of smoke from Mark Webber's Red Bull, Kubica's Renault was touched by the Force India of Adrian Sutil and spun before storming back through the field to eleventh, one place from the points.

Having reached the top ten shootout in qualifying on Saturday, former BMW driver Robert was optimistic ahead of his first race for Renault on the track at which he achieved his first and so far only Formula 1 pole position two years ago.

"All of our hard work this weekend was undone by the incident on the first lap," he said after the race. "During the lap to the grid, we had high engine oil levels and we took some out on the grid, but it seemed like Webber had the same problem after Turn 1; his engine just sucked the oil in and there was a massive amount of smoke in front of me.


Smoke from Webber's engine caused first-lap problems for Kubica, Sutil and Trulli at Turn 2
Smoke from Webber's engine caused first-lap problems for Kubica, Sutil and Trulli at Turn 2

"I think Sutil just didn't lift off because he couldn't see anything and he hit me. I spun during the incident and that cooked the rear tyres; they were overheating from that point onwards and I eventually stopped very early on Lap 12. I completed the rest of the race on hard (Medium compound) tyres and that was a big challenge. I just set myself the goal of finishing in the points but we didn't quite make it."

Russian team-mate Vitaly Petrov was also disappointed after failing to finish his first F1 race. "I made a fantastic start and was running well in P11 at the end of the first lap," the Vyborg driver recalled. "The car felt good, and my pace was better than Barrichello in front of me. Then I ran wide over a kerb at Turn 12 and it seemed to damage the right-front suspension at that point.

"I came into the pits to have the car checked over and that was when we realised that the suspension couldn't be repaired, so I had to retire. It was an extremely disappointing end after such a great start but I'm pleased with how things went up to that point."

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Photos

Renault
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2010 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix
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Robert Kubica
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Vitaly Petrov
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Formula 1
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