Kubica fights for his F1 career after horror rally shunt

JEOPARDY: Robert Kubica is facing the biggest fight of his career so far

THE Polish racing driver Robert Kubica is fighting for his F1 career tonight, after suffering multiple fractures in a horror rally crash.  Kubica, 26, crashed into a church wall on the final day of a rally in Italy.  BBC Radio 5 Live’s David Croft reports that Kubica was trapped in his wrecked Skoda Fabia for upto an hour.  He was airlifted to hospital in Genoa, where he is undergoing surgery for multiple fractures.

REMAINS: The wreckage of Kubica's Skoda Fabia rally car

His condition is not life threatening, but his manager Daniele Morelli confirmed his injuries, which are a broken right leg, broken right arm and more worryingly, broken right hand.  Surgeons are attempting to resurrect Kubica’s feeling in his right hand.  If unable to do so, his Formula One career looks to be over.  Morelli told reporters at the hospital; “Surgeons are trying to re-establish the functionality of his right hand.  Robert is very strong and he will pull through.”

Kubica made his Grand Prix debut for BMW Sauber in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix and is one of the leading stars in the rising talent of Formula One field.  The Krakow born driver has only won one race; the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal, but has put in a string of impressive performances in recent years, most particularly at Renault last season.  He finished eighth in the drivers’ championship last season, finishing second in Australia and third in Belgium and Monaco.  He is no stranger to massive crashes.  Robert had titanium bolts in his right arm inserted when he was seriously injured in a road accident in 2003.  Four years later, he walked away unscathed for a potentially fatal shunt at the Canadian Grand Prix, when he clipped Jarno Trulli’s Toyota and was launched into an aeroplane wreck.  A sprained ankle was the only injury here.

It was just over 4km into the first stage of the rally that Kubica was taking part in; a hobby he likes to do away from the F1 paddock.  Croft reported more on how the crash happened; “It is understood that when Kubica hit the wall, a barrier penetrated the footwell of his car, causing the injuries.”  “The main concern is with Kubica’s right hand, which has lost a load of blood.  However, reports of amputation are wide of the mark.”

FORM: Robert was fastest in testing last week, but his form has been halted

Even if he makes a full recovery, Kubica is all but certain to miss the F1 season opener in Bahrain, which is just 35 days away.  With the injuries looking so sustained, I’d expect him to be on the sidelines for the best part of three months.  The Renault team are devastated; especially after Kubica set the fastest time of the first F1 test of 2011 in Valencia last Thursday.  Reserve drivers, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean are both expected to feature in this week’s testing programme alongside regular Russian Vitaly Petrov.  Both Senna and Grosjean have raced in F1 before, and would be seen as an excellent one-off choice.  However, if Kubica is going to be missing a large proportion of the campaign, then a more suitable replacement such as Force India test driver Nico Hulkenberg or his former team-mate at BMW Sauber, Nick Heidfeld must be considered.  

Support for Kubica has flooded through on Twitter from his fellow racing colleagues.  Jenson Button wrote on his page; “Shocking news about Robert Kubica, I wish him a speedy recovery.”  Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi’s thoughts are also with his pal; “All my support to Robert Kubica.  I am with you man.”

The current surgery is thought to be going okay, but it is too early to say the implications.  However, Kubica’s presence in the F1 paddock will be missed come the season opener in Bahrain.  I wish him all the best for a speedy and safe recovery, and hope to see him back in a racing car real soon. 

Commonwealth Chaos

Delhi has taken an absolute battering in the worldwide media, due to its complete lack of disorganisation and preparation that has threatened to completely destroy the Commonwealth Games.  This week’s events have been nothing short of a disgrace, and although some athletes have pulled out for safety reasons, it is surprising that all 71 countries look set to take part in the showpiece event in India which starts next Sunday.

The first signs of trouble were highlighted by concerns over security levels for the athletes around the city, in case terrorists struck.  Next, there were rumours of the standard of accommodation in the athletic village simply not being upto scratch.  Then on Tuesday afternoon, a footbridge collapsed near the main stadium, injuring twenty-three people, the majority being workers on the site.  Five of these were taken to hospital with critical injuries, though luckily, there were no fatalities.  Government officials said that the bridge had been weakened by heavy rain within the area of recent.  Since then, the roof at the weightlifting area has also collapsed, though no-one was hurt in this relatively ‘minor’ incident.

World and European triple jump champion Phillips Idowu has pulled out of the defence of his Commonwealth title that he brilliantly won in Melbourne four years ago.  He announced the news on his Twitter homepage.

"I can't afford to risk my safety in the slightest.  "All the press today about bridges collapsing and 23+ people being hurt, floods and inhabitable living conditions, getting my daughter ready for school this morning and seeing all of that put me off.  "So statements like toughen up, I'm toughening up, was a tough choice to make but I made it for my children."

Pictures attained by the BBC on Friday afternoon showed the state that some of the accommodation is in.  To be honest, a typical room at University’s Halls of Residence looks better, so no wonder why Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has entered into the debate, by saying that “time is running out.”  However, it does look like the Games have been pulled back from the brink of being totally obliterated by the travelling nations.

Competitors were due to start arriving in preparation for the games on Thursday.  After consultation with the leading delegates from all sports taking place, the English team began leaving for Delhi on Friday afternoon, with another batch due to fly out tomorrow.  The Scottish, Australian and Canadian teams, who had all delayed their journeys out to Asia, before getting absolute total guarantee of necessary improvements, are all on the way out to the location in the next 48 hours.  The only question mark of a country participating seems to be the New Zealand team, who seem to have been the country that has been the most outspoken about the events over the past five days.

The English team will also be missing the likes of Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis and Lisa Dobrinsky.  All four will not be competing due to fatigue of injuries, though Dobrinsky’s absence is also thought to be around a safety issue.  Sprinting ace Usain Bolt will also not take part in the games for Jamaica, due to injury.

Considering that India was awarded the Commonwealth Games for 2010 way back in 2004, this is a startling story, but one that doesn’t surprise many.  Warnings were adhered last year, and don’t seem to have been taken seriously by the Indian government.  To me, although it can make for fantastic television, I think the Commonwealth Games are largely a waste of time, especially when so many top stars pull out of what used to be such a star-studied event on the sporting calendar every four years.  I just hope that when the Commonwealth Games begin next Sunday, the two weeks of competition will go off without a hitch and make all the messy and confrontational build-up a storm in a teacup.  However, that may take quite a bit of convincing for many experts and fans across the world.

Disgraced Canadian Mogul Set For Release

The shamed former editor of the Daily Telegraph, Conrad Black looks set to be released from jail, after being granted bail, in his efforts to appeal against a conviction for multi-million pound fraud.  The Canadian billionaire was found guilty of stealing from the now defunct media holding company Hollinger in 2007 and trying to cover up his crimes.  If the 65-year old is released, he will have served less than half of his sentence in jail, having begun it in March 2008.

Black has applied immediately for his release after justices of the Supreme Court in America ruled last month that the law used to convict him on three charges of fraud was too lax.  He now awaits his fate, as another area of court in America will decide whether to quash his convictions.  Conrad Black was born in Montreal in 1944 and bought his first newspaper at the tender age of 22.  In 1986, he took over as owner of The Daily Telegraph and set them up as the first UK newspaper to go electronic on the Internet, in 1994.  Two years later, his holding group, Hollinger’s was placed on the New York Stock Exchange.  Known for his swagger lifestyle and the ability to mix it in with top celebrities, Black had it all, a real challenger to Rupert Murdoch’s domination of the media sector, certainly in the press industry.  However, like Murdoch’s previous challenger, Robert Maxwell, it turned out that Black had built up his empire on lies and deception. 

It started in June 2003, when he agreed to an internal investigation into payments to himself and other directors of Hollinger.  Once complete, he resigned as chief executive and sold his Daily Telegraph titles to the Barclay Brothers for £665million.  What followed next was attack and counter attacks of court threats, suing for defamation and allegations of fraud, made by Hollinger International.  In October 2004, a US court cleared Black of a $1.2billion suit brought by Hollinger International, but when former chairman of the company, David Radler pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against other in the alleged fraud in September 2005, the game was up.  Black and three associates were charged two months later and after a four month trial, he was found guilty of criminal fraud and obstruction of justice in July 2007.  He got a lenient sentence, six-and-a-half year jail term, when the maximum penalty could have been 35 years. 

Appeals have followed since, with Black always maintaining he did nothing wrong with any of his questionable business dealings.  Whatever the case, his image will be tarnished forever, even if he manages to weasel his way out of his convictions.  Many will hope the disgraced Canadian doesn’t come anyway near a competitive and thriving media industry once he gets released from jail.