McLaren ruled out signing Robert Kubica as Lewis Hamilton\u2019s new teammate for the 2008 F1 season because \u201chis nose was too big.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is the remarkable claim of former McLaren communications chief Matt Bishop, who could not say for certain if then-chief executive Martin Whitmarsh was joking.<\/p>\n
Robert Kubica overlooked by McLaren because \u2018his nose was too big\u2019<\/p>\n
Kubica stands as one of the great unfulfilled F1 talents of this century having been restricted to just a single grand prix victory \u2013 achieved with the BMW-Sauber team \u2013 in Canada in 2008.<\/p>\n
The Polish driver was cruelly prevented from adding to his tally by a horrific rally crash in February 2011, which left him with serious injuries and altered the course of his career.<\/p>\n
After achieving success in rallying, Kubica redirected his focus on F1 and returned for one season with Williams in 2019, scoring the team\u2019s only point at that year\u2019s German Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Now 41, Kubica took an emotional maiden victory at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours race for Ferrari earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Kubica revealed in 2018 that he had signed a contract to join Ferrari\u2019s F1 team for 2012 at the time of his rally accident.<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n McLaren was on the hunt for a replacement for Fernando Alonso at the end of 2007 after an explosive season alongside Hamilton resulted in the two-time world champion\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n The team eventually signed Heikki Kovalainen, who effectively swapped seats with Alonso following an accomplished debut season with Renault.<\/p>\n Bishop, a former magazine editor, worked for McLaren as the team\u2019s communications boss between 2008 and 2017 before a stint with the Aston Martin team.<\/p>\n Appearing on his And Colossally That\u2019s History! podcast, Bishop revealed that Whitmarsh, McLaren\u2019s chief executive at the time, aired reservations about Kubica\u2019s appearance when deciding on Hamilton\u2019s new teammate for 2008.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI remember that Whitmarsh said at that time that one of the problems with Kubica, as a possible 2008 driver for McLaren, was that his nose was too big. He said that.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked in jest if Whitmarsh felt Kubica\u2019s nose represented an aerodynamic or aesthetic problem, Bishop laughed: \u201cAesthetic, I think!<\/p>\n \u201cI think he was joking, to be fair.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if you\u2019re listening, Martin, which I\u2019m sure you won\u2019t be, perhaps you can get in touch with us to explain, but I think he was joking.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Martin could sometimes be funny like that. He thought drivers should look a certain way.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, of course, he\u2019d learned that from Ron [Dennis], who was always very particular about drivers\u2019 appearance.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough, to be fair to Ron, I never heard him complaining about Robert\u2019s nose\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Bishop\u2019s fellow presenter, the music and sports reporter Richard Williams, added: \u201cIt\u2019s hilarious, really, about Kubica\u2019s nose.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know where he\u2019d fit now since all young drivers who come into F1 now look like members of boy bands. They do look as if they\u2019ve been through a kind of looks grading thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitmarsh left McLaren after 25 years in 2014 with Dennis following him out the exit door in 2017.<\/p>\n Robert Kubica: Motorsport\u2019s ironman<\/p>\n Five iconic F1 drivers that failed to reach their full potential: Alonso, Raikkonen and more<\/a><\/p>\n Drivers beware: The nasty injuries sustained away from the F1 racetrack<\/a><\/p>\n Appearing on the Gurulandia podcast last year, Kubica revealed that he suffered 42 fractures and lost three quarters of his blood<\/a> in his 2011 rally accident.<\/p>\n He said:\u00a0\u201cHonestly, I remember little of what happened because I was in a coma for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cI arrived at the hospital with one-and-a-half litres of blood, whereas a human body has six or seven.<\/p>\n \u201cThe right side of my body was all smashed up. I had 42 fractures and from my toe to my elbow I was all broken.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI am human.<\/p>\n \u201cFor six or seven months I lost all feeling and I was not moving anything.<\/p>\n \u201cI was trying to move my finger, but I could not do it and it was a feeling that only those who have experienced it can understand.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day I succeeded, I felt an absurd joy.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n