Robert Kubica names the Formula 1 team he raced for that never fulfilled their full potential

Polish driver Robert Kubica looked set to have a stellar Formula 1 career after making his debut back in 2006.

Robert Kubica was a Formula Renault 3.5 champion and earned a spot as Renault’s F1 test driver during Fernando Alonso’s title-winning 2005 season.

The following year, Kubica replaced Jacques Villeneuve at short notice for BMW Sauber and despite being disqualified from his first race for the team, did enough to convince them to offer him a permanent contract.

Kubica admits Villeneuve was never his biggest fan and the Canadian champion’s F1 career was brought to an end.

Alongside Nick Heidfeld, Kubica helped build up the BMW Sauber team and in 2008, they had their best season in the sport.

Kubica won the only Formula 1 race of his career at the Canadian Grand Prix that year, the same venue where he had a terrifying crash that he managed to walk away from.

After standing on the top step of the podium, Kubica was leading the drivers’ championship and BMW Sauber – now simply known as Sauber, or Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber to use their full name – were well positioned in the team standings as well.

However, in an interview with Motorsport Italia, Kubica explained how BMW never had the motivation to truly fulfil their potential in F1.

He said winning that race in Canada ended up doing him more harm than good as the German manufacturer believed they had already achieved their goals for the year, rather than pushing to go all the way and win the championship.

Robert Kubica believes BMW Sauber never fulfilled their potential in Formula 1

Kubica was asked about the moment he was leading the world championship after the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix and said: “It was a missed opportunity even now and not everyone thinks so but the truth is that BMW was a team with so much potential.

“You can see it after so many years because the people who worked with me at the time occupy very high positions at front row teams.

“We had everything to be able to, in my opinion, be a lot better but every company and I purposely use the word company because, in the end, BMW did things in the team as if it was a company.

READ MORE: Robert Kubica shares how he surprised everyone with his best season after ‘dark year before’

“The truth is modern Formula 1 teams are big companies, however, once you go for the world championship in F1, you have to find a balance between company and racing team.

“A bit of the racing team approach was missing. Yes we have targets to reach and therefore we are fine, but that desire was missing in my opinion.

“I’m not saying I would have won but on the other hand, I know that the parts that were produced and tested by me gave a lot of performance to the car but were never used in the race.”

Sauber have never reached Robert Kubica’s 2008 peak again but Audi takeover offers hope

Although BMW Sauber moved on to working on their 2009 car after Kubica’s victory, that campaign proved to be a disaster and the Pole fell 10 places in the drivers’ championship as a result and then made the switch to Renault.

A horrific rally accident ahead of the 2011 F1 season saw Kubica miss out on a race seat and he only returned to the grid on a full-time basis in 2019.

Kubica admitted joining Williams was a mistake at the end of his F1 career due to their underperformance, but things haven’t gone much better for Sauber in that time.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Sauber from team principal to 2026 Audi future

Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez managed to help Sauber finish sixth in the constructors’ championship in 2012, but that’s their highest position in the standings since Kubica and Heidfeld raced for them.

A lack of investment has slowly caught up with them, but from 2026 onwards, Sauber will officially be taken over by Audi.

Audi may have a power unit advantage in 2026, but the team are starting from such a low level given how poor Sauber were last season that it may not have any impact on their initial results.