This is an update to:
Formula 1 Star Robert Kubica Crashes Out in A Rally at Italy
It will be a year before injured Formula One ace Robert Kubica regains full use of his smashed right hand, doctors said today.
But the Polish star’s Lotus Renault team, whose plans have been thrown into chaos by his huge rally crash, believe the medics are being overly cautious.
They conceded only that he would be out of F1 “for at least a couple of months”.
Kubica, 26, hit a church wall at high speed while competing in Italy’s Ronde di Andora rally in a Skoda Fabia.
He suffered serious injuries to his right arm, shoulder and leg.
Surgeons at the Santa Corona hospital near Genoa saved his hand from amputation in a seven-hour operation.
But he will need further surgery on his elbow and shoulder.
Dr Giorgio Barabino, head of the hospital’s intensive care unit, said: “Kubica is conscious. He talks and understands what has happened.”
“Things are going well considering there was substantial damage. Kubica lost a lot of blood.” The Sun
“The patient will have to undergo more surgery, not only on the parts already treated, but also for other problems and traumas he suffered, which we couldn’t work on because of the emergency,” said Dr Francesco Lanza, the director of orthopaedics at the Santa Corona hospital in Pietra Ligure where Kubica is in intensive care.
“The important thing was to stabilise the patient and to pad the biggest wounds. For the fractures suffered on his leg, he will need at least three or four months to allow the bone to set back together.”
Kubica was briefly woken from a medically-induced coma on Monday and informed of the extent of his injuries. The driver’s first concern was for his co-driver Jakub Gerber, who was uninjured in the crash.
The Renault team principal, Eric Boullier, who travelled to Italy to visit Kubica, is confident that his driver, of whom much was expected this season following fast times in the first pre-season test, would be back behind the wheel much sooner than a year, as predicted by the doctors treating him.
“Robert is doing better this morning and he is actually in the process of being woken up,” he told the BBC. “There has already been some good communication with the doctors. Obviously when you have a big crash like he had, doctors always predict the worst case scenario. The Guardian
With the first race of the new Formula One season in Bahrain next month, his Lotus Renault team defended Kubica’s decision to take part in a rally so close to the start of the season.
“He loves rallying,” team boss Eric Boullier said. “We knew the risks and so did he. We didn’t want a robot or a corporate man for a driver. It was agreed.”
Support has been offered from throughout the close-knit world of F1 for the only Polish driver to have ever driven at this level, including a specially-designed “Twibbon” on the social-networking site Twitter.
McLaren’s 2009 world champion Jenson Button tweeted, “Shocking news about Robert Kubica. I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Another driver to offer his sympathies was Williams’ veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who used his Twitter blog to say, “I would like to ask you for your best wishes to Kubica,” and “we all like him and he deserves all the best.” CNN International
UPDATE: February 10, 2011 09:09 am
Renault’s Robert Kubica has been moved from intensive care as he continues his recovery following a high-speed rally crash in Italy on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Pole suffered multiple fractures and will undergo two operations on his foot and humerus at an Italian hospital on Friday.
A further operation on Kubica’s elbow has been scheduled for Monday.
“His general condition is good, so much so we can programme two operations on Friday,” Dr Giorgio Barabino said.
“Next week we expect to perform the last operation on the patient.”
Kubica has been at the Savona’s Santa Corona di Pietra Ligure hospital, 35 miles south-west of Genoa, since crashing his Skoda Fabia against a church wall during the Ronde di Andora rally. BBC Sport
While Renault have named Nick Heidfeld and Bruno Senna as possible replacements and said they will be testing the R31 over the weekend, the 26-year-old was clearly at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts in Spain.
Kubica’s team-mate Vitaly Petrov had the message ‘Szybkiego powrotu do zdrowia Robert’, which translates as ‘Get well soon Robert’, sprayed across his engine cover. And as the rest of the group emerged from the pits, it was revealed they were all carrying the same message. Telegraph.co.uk
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