Robert Kubica started his adventure with cars very early, at the age of four and drove a small off-road vehicle around at his parents' home.
He graduated to karts and won six Polish Championship titles.
In 1998 Robert Kubica won the Italian Karting Championship as the first foreigner in the history of the series and also scored second place in European Championship.
At the end of 1999 he tested a Formula Renault 2000 car for the first time.
During his first season in cars he scored his first pole position and became member of RDD.
In 2002 he won four races and scored second place in Italian Formula Renault 2000.
His move to Formula 3 Euro Series was delayed by road accident when he was a passenger in Poland, which left him with severely broken right arm.
In his late debut at Norisring, driving with plastic brace and 18 titanium bolts in his right arm, Robert won his first Formula 3 race in front of 126 000 spectators.
He ended his first, shortened season in 12th place but ended his second season in Formula 3 Euro Series in a factory Mercedes team in an improved 7th position.
In November 2004 he scored pole position in Macau F3 Grand Prix, then broke the lap record before finishing second.
Good performance during his test with Epsilon Euskadi in World Series by Renault resulted in signing young Pole for 2005.
In his first race in new category, at Zolder, Robert scored third place, showing no respect for older and more experienced rivals.
He won a total of four races and in Estoril, three races before the end of the season, was crowned a champion.
That earned him a test with the Renault F1 Team in Barcelona and his lap times made such a big impression that three weeks later Kubica was signed by BMW Sauber as their official Friday test driver.
The Polish driver, though, soon found himself in race-seat, replacing the ousted Jacques Villeneuve and he surprised and impressed many when he finished third in the Italian Grand Prix, only his second F1 race.
And although he wasn't able to score points in the remaining three races of the season, largely through pushing too hard and going off the track, BMW opted to keep him on a race driver for the 2007 F1 season.
The young Pole made a steady start to his first full season in F1, scoring points in three of the opening five races. However, disaster almost struck at the Canadian GP when he suffered a horrific high-speed accident, coming away with nothing more than a sprained ankel.
His lack of injury was testiment to the technology used in F1 as his BMW literally broke-up around him as he hit a wall only to somersalt across the track before hitting the wall on the other side.
His ankel and slight concussion, though, kept him out of the USGP but he made his return in France, demonstrating his own mental strength.
Eight points finishes in the remaining 11 races saw Kubica finish the Championship in sixth place behind his team-mate and earned him another season at BMW.
And that season proved to be a rather successful one for Kubica and the team who achieved their first victory at the Canadian GP. The win also saw Robert leading the Drivers' standings and in remained in the hunt right up until the penultimate race of the Championship. However, a slight slump in form in the latter few races meant he was fourth by the time the season ended in Brazil.
And although BMW talked about launching a title challenge in 2009, it did not happen for the team or Kubica.
The team's disappointing 2009 challenger left Kubica struggling for reliability and when he did have it, the car just didn't have the pace to fight at the front of the field. In fact, even points were hard to come by.
The end result was a dismal 17 points, eight of which came from his podium finish at the penultimate race of the season in Brazil, and BMW's announcement that they were walking away from Formula One.
Kubica, though, wasn't without a 2010 drive for long as Renault were quick to sign the Polish driver, bringing him in as their lead man for this year's Championship.
But with a new owner having sold 75 per cent stake in the team to Luxembourg based investment company and with a new team boss in Eric Boullier, only time will tell whether Renault can live up to Kubica's expectations and talent.
