Robert Kubica wants to focus solely on F1 race return - MotorSportsTalk

The last few years have seen several famous comebacks to Formula One: Michael Schumacher returned in 2010 after three years out of the sport, with Kimi Raikkonen’s 2012 comeback provoking more flair and emotions on track than any words uttered to the press. Adrian Sutil, too, has returned after a year’s hiatus to less fanfare.

The next driver who could be on the comeback trail is Polish driver Robert Kubica, perhaps one of the lost stars of this generation.

Kubica told Autosport his sole focus is a return to an full-time F1 race seat for 2014. He was most recently in Mercedes’ F1 simulator.

“I’m not able to come back into single-seaters at the moment, and my vision is not to come back in saloon cars on the circuit at this stage,” said Kubica, 28. “There is not any guarantee, there is no percentage to say whether I will come back or not, but it’s also not 100 percent that I will not be back in F1. I will try my best.”

He admitted DTM cars have some appeal later in his career, but not at the moment. Ex-Marussia and Toyota driver Timo Glock has taken up residence in the German championship this season, which starts this weekend in Hockenheim.

Kubica’s rally accident in 2011 cost him his F1 career to this point. His stock was boosted after a sincerely impressive 2010 where he dragged his geriatric Renault to places it shouldn’t have been. His best year, statistically, was in 2008 when he tied for third in the World Championship with Raikkonen, and won his first and only Grand Prix for BMW Sauber at the Canadian Grand Prix.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”