Formula 1 drivers rarely praise rivals – so Lewis Hamilton’s admission that he sees Robert Kubica as his main challenger for the future should not be disregarded.

It’s easy to see why Kubica’s peers rate him so highly.

Steely, self-assured and with an unconventional yet highly effective driving style, this avid poker player is one of F1's most combative and outright quickest performers.

He shrugged off an underwhelming 2007 by taking his and BMW’s first victory last year, and challenging for the title until the penultimate round.

BMW was well satisfied with those achievements – but Kubica ended the year frustrated that his team had lost momentum after taking the points lead mid-season, and was not shy about expressing his annoyance.

This year BMW expects a concerted title challenge, which is certainly what Kubica will want as he considers whether to stay with the team long-term.


Career log

Kubica made an instant impact on F1 when he became BMW’s reserve driver in 2006 – going fastest at Sakhir in his first official session.

It was just one of a string of superb Friday practice performances and BMW was soon convinced that its unheralded Polish novice was faster than veteran race drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Heidfeld.

When Villeneuve chose to jump before he was pushed, Kubica graduated into the race team.

Only a technicality denied him a points finish on his debut in Hungary, and he finished on the podium in only his third race.

As Kubica hounded Heidfeld at an unfamiliar Suzuka that autumn, few would have predicted that the German would turn the tables in 2007.

Often outpaced and comfortably outscored by Heidfeld in his first full year, Kubica later admitted that he had underperformed as he struggled to adapt to the Bridgestone control tyres.

Indeed his season was best remembered for a ferocious accident in Canada – arguably the most violent non-fatal crash in F1’s history, from which Kubica emerged virtually unscathed.

There was almost a sensational breakthrough in China, only for his hydraulics to fail just as he took the lead after a sublime drive in changeable conditions.

Those disappointments were soon forgotten when he came close to pole at Melbourne in 2008, then proceeded to take the top spot on the grid in Bahrain, hassle McLaren and Ferrari at virtually every race, and even lead the championship after his maiden win, which came – appropriately – in Montreal.

That BMW faded in the later races was largely irrelevant; Kubica had fired a major warning shot for the future.


The early years

Kubica’s path to F1 was far from straightforward.

He was picked up by Renault’s young driver scheme after karts, only to be dropped after just a single Formula Renault season, even though he finished runner-up in the Italian championship.

The Pole rarely had competitive equipment in Formula 3, but he did manage a heroic comeback win on his return to the 2003 Euro Series after a road crash had left him with a badly broken arm.

A move to the World Series by Renault in 2005 got Kubica’s career on course, as he won the championship and the prize test in a Renault F1 car.

He was also set to drive for Minardi on Friday of the Chinese GP but was denied a superlicence.

BMW boss Mario Theissen had a hunch about Kubica after watching him take second in the legendary Macau street race, and decided to snap him up as number three driver for 2006 – which turned out to be a masterstroke.