Williams’ Robert Kubica says he paid a “high price” after crashing in Q1 at the castle section in Baku.
The Pole clipped the inside wall, causing him to go into one of the tightest corners on the Formula 1 calendar out of shape – the only outcome being a heavy shunt into the barriers.
The incident brought out the red flags and a slightly premature end to Q1, with Kubica left to rue a small error which resulted in a heavy price.
“I clipped the inside with the front left which pushed me into the wall,” Kubica told the BBC after his crash.
“It’s the worst place you can make those kind of evaluations and unfortunately I paid quite a high price. That’s how it is.”
The impact was enough to earn Kubica a trip to the Medical Centre, but he claims to be fine after all precautionary checks.
“It’s all OK,” he said. “It’s not a huge impact but of course the Medical Centre they had to, for precautions, do all the tests. I feel good so no problem.”
Leclerc would crash at the same point on-track early in Q2, resulting in qualifying itself running for almost two hours.
Kubica said he didn’t see the Ferrari man’s incident, but had sympathy for him.
“I didn’t know, a shame for him. It’s the place where you pay a high price for a little mistake but we know it and that’s how it is,” he explained.
Disappointing end to #Quali as our tough weekend here in Baku continues. #GR63 ends the session P19 with #RK88 P20 #AzerbaijanGP ?? pic.twitter.com/Tk2pX4xAZQ
— ROKiT WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) April 27, 2019
It was feared that Williams would be unable to get Kubica’s FW42 ready for the race on Sunday, considering it would be another expensive repair job for a team already struggling for parts.
But, in an official statement, the team confirmed that they will be able to get the job done.
“We are currently working to fix the front end of Robert’s car,” the statement assured.
“We will replace both front corners, brakes and steering column on his car following the accident, but we have replacement parts available for all of this.”
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