He won just one Formula 1 race, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, before the rally crash that nearly killed him, but Robert Kubica is back at the top of the motorsport world with a Le Mans overall victory

Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson celebrate winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans(Image: AP)

Robert Kubica won the famous Le Mans 24-hour race with a “perfect” performance. It was a remarkable win for a man who, 14 years ago, was very lucky to survive a rally crash which scuppered his chance to race for Ferrari in Formula 1 and almost killed him.

Kubica broke 42 bones, lost three quarters of his blood and had his right forearm partially amputated. He returned to F1 for a brief spell with Williams but later switched to endurance racing where he has shone, having won the World Endurance Championship title in 2023.

And the 40-year-old finally won one of motorsport’s biggest prizes on Sunday with victory at Le Mans alongside team-mates Yifei Ye and Britain’s Phil Hanson. Kubica missed out in 2021 when his car broke down while leading on the last lap and he recalled that painful memory as he reflected on his extraordinary win.

He said: “Winning Le Mans is special, it is one of the toughest races. I was very close a few years ago in LMP2 at my first Le Mans when we lost the race on the last lap, but this time, everything worked perfectly and winning overall is better than in LMP2.

“It has been a demanding week, but fortunately, we made everything possible. We kept our heads down, when we had to, we pushed, and we didn’t have to, we took care of the car, and of the tyres. I’m happy for myself, for my team-mates, for AF Corse and for Ferrari winning three times in a row with different crews, so I think a better scenario could not have happened.”

Kubica’s victory made him just the second man this century to win both Le Mans and an F1 race, after Fernando Alonso. The Pole’s only F1 success came at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, driving for BMW Sauber. He later signed a pre-contract to join Ferrari in 2012 but his rally crash saw that move cancelled.

Speaking about that trauma last year, Kubica said: “I was in Valencia for pre-season testing when I was offered to race in the Renault rally car. Initially I accepted but then I called to say, ‘Forget it’, but they replied that Pirelli was already bringing tyres, the road was already blocked for testing.

“Honestly, I remember little of what happened because I was in a coma for so long. I arrived at the hospital with one and a half litres of blood, whereas a human body has six or seven. The right side of my body was all smashed up. I had 42 fractures and from my toe to my elbow I was all broken.

“I am human. For six or seven months I lost all feeling and I was not moving anything. I was trying to move my finger, but I could do it and it was a feeling that only those who have experienced it can understand. The day I succeeded, I felt an absurd joy.”

For Ferrari, it marked a third consecutive Le Mans win since its return to the World Endurance Championship after a long absence in 2023. Kubica, Ye and Hanson were driving a privateer AF Corse entry which got the better of the two works cars which were plagued by reliability issues but still finished third and fourth.