Boullier: A ‘little’ more time for Kubica

Eric Boullier says he’ll give Robet Kubica “a little” bit more time to see if he can return to F1 next season…

Eric Boullier says he’ll give Robet Kubica “a little” bit more time to see if he can return to F1 next season.

Kubica has been out of action since early February when he suffered severe injuries, including a partially severed hand, in a rally accident.

And although reports on the Pole’s recovery all sound very positive, it remains to be seen whether the Lotus Renault GP driver will be able to stage a comeback next season.

Renault had initially set him a deadline of early November to demonstrate whether a return is possible. However, team boss Boullier says he’s willing to give Kubica a bit more time.

“Maybe a little further,” he told Autosport.

“If I can wait a little bit longer, I will maybe have to because he’s not fully ready and I want him to be in a fair situation to make sure he will be back.

“I spoke to Daniele Morelli and they are very confident that Robert will be back, which is nice to hear. We still have to go through some processes so he is basically fighting against time.

“If Robert can driver a Formula 1 car, I want him to be with us so I have to give him a chance. It’s up to me to be flexible.”

However, Boullier added that he can’t wait too long as he needs to finalise Lotus Renault’s line-up in the not-too-distant future.

“I need not to go against the interests of this team, so if I can see anything going wrong with next year’s driver line-up, I will have to take a decision,” he said.