Robert Kubica says the most frustrating part of his return to Formula 1 this year has been the lack of wheel-to-wheel racing because his Williams is so uncompetitive.

“The one thing which is I think most painful this year actually that I have been not racing for many years, nine, and I feel like we have very little racing because of the situation we are in and the position we are in this year,” he said.

“What is probably [the] biggest fun is, of course, to drive Formula 1 [and] actually in the race to race someone, to have an intense race. Even if you don’t have a battle wheel-to-wheel but you know you have to squeeze everything, you can overtake people in the pit stop, you just have a goal.”

Williams have consistently qualified at the back of the field and often haven’t been quick enough to race their nearest rivals. “This is something which which I think is most painful,” said Kubica.

The situation was slightly better in Mexico, Kubica admitted, where he was able to overtake his team mate George Russell.

“We did have a bit of a, at least, closer race together with also Haas behind so the race itself was a bit different than most of them.”

A slow puncture erased the progress he had made. But Kubica said it wasn’t worth being frustrated about losing such a lowly result.

“I don’t think I can be frustrated by having a slow puncture when you are fighting for 17th. I was not frustrated after the race. It happened, that’s motorsport.”

“It doesn’t mean that if I’m racing 17th I don’t want to try my best,” he added, “but of course it’s not the end of the world. You cannot be frustrated by losing 17th. Of course you like to have a smoother race without this issue, but in the end I haven’t lost anything.”

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2019 F1 season