#F1 Just how good was Kubica? He was the best of them all: Say Alonso + Hamilton. Quicker than Vettel

Just how good was Kubica?Arguably, in a generation that includes Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, he was the best of them all.That, incidentally, was the view of Alonso.Hamilton regarded him as the best driver he had ever encountered as they made their way through karting and up the junior car racing ladder.BMW-Sauber didn’t put up a big fight when Red Bull reclaimed its junior driver Vettel because Sauber felt that its other driver, Kubica, was so much quicker.

Vettel had taken over Kubica’s former role of Friday tester when Robert was promoted to the race team mid-way through 2006 because his Friday performances were simply too sensational to keep him out of a race seat, something that hastened Jacques Villeneuve’s departure.In many ways that 2006 half-season was his most impressive of all.

On the high-grip Michelin tyres the team was contracted to, he was able to take an outrageous momentum into the corners, overlapping the braking and corner entry phases probably better than anyone else of the time. In his Friday role he was fastest of the field by the outrageous margin of two seconds in Montreal and out on track he looked every bit that. His driving through turns 3-4 that day remain imprinted upon my memory.It’s still visually the fastest I have ever seen anyone drive.I recall Martin Brundle one day in 2008 coming into the commentary booth after having watched a practice session trackside and saying, “Kubica is pushing about 10% harder through that corner than anyone else,” and I knew exactly what he meant…

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