Kubica completes private F1 test with Renault

Former Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica was back behind the wheel of a Formula One car on Tuesday - for the first time since his career-halting rallying accident back in 2011.

Kubica, 32, completed well over 100 laps of the Valencia circuit in Spain in a private session with Renault, running a 2012 car painted in the team’s current colours.

Kubica made 76 Grand Prix starts between 2006 and 2010, winning the 2008 Canadian round for Sauber on his way to fourth in that year’s driver standings.

The Polish star was preparing for his second campaign with the then-Lotus (now Renault) team in 2011 when he severely injured his right arm in a crash whilst participating in an Italian rally during the F1 off-season.

After a lengthy recovery period he returned to competitive motorsport in 2013, first in rallying and then sportcars, with a lack of mobility in his arm initially precluding single-seater activity.

That changed in April this year when he tested a GP3 car in Italy, his first experience of an open-wheeled race car since his accident.