Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Robert Kubica admits Williams' lack of pace has taken away some of the pain of having missed out on a race seat.
Last year Kubica was battling to secure a 2018 Williams race seat but lost out to former Renault test driver Sergey Sirotkin.
He did, however, sign with the team as their reserve driver and has driven the FW41 in testing as well as Friday practices.
But while Kubica would rather be the one racing the car, he admits Williams' poor performances have made it a "bit easier" not racing.
Asked if he'd rather be in the car than on the sidelines, he told Motorsport Week: "For sure, I would like to deny it, the fact is this is a great opportunity to live my passion and be in the paddock and to drive an F1 car.
"With the current regulation where there are such restrictions on testing, it's not easy.
"You don't see many [test drivers] or none at all being so active in the car, so this is a great opportunity for me but for sure, once I realised I can do it and I felt I could race despite my limitations.
"Last year the test gave me quite a lot of confidence, I was building up confidence and the comfort I can do it.
"Of course I'd prefer to be racing, but the fact is when you see the performance of the car it's a bit easier to not race, because if we were fighting for podiums or top positions then it would be harder to not race.
"But somehow it's not a question of position, I would be lying if I said if I'm fine with it.
"I'm fine because in the end, I accept it and once I decided to say yes to Williams' offer, I knew where I was going and I think I have a professional approach and I try to help the team and I'm a part of the team and this is a good aspect."
