Kubica Uncertain About Staying with AF Corse for 2025

Robert Kubica has admitted he is uncertain about staying at the AF Corse Ferrari outfit for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship as he expressed a desire to be the “priority” for whichever manufacturer he joins forces with next.

Ex-Formula 1 racer Kubica joined AF Corse this season as part of the lineup for the third-string No. 83 Ferrari 499P alongside Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, with the trio having earned a best position of fourth so far in the Qatar season opener.

The yellow-liveried Ferrari also spent a portion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the lead before Kubica earned a penalty for a collision with the BMW of Dries Vanthoor, which preceded the No. 83 car retiring with four hours to go with a hybrid system failure.

Although the AF Corse package has proven mostly competitive so far this season, Kubica said he wants to evaluate his options for next year, hinting at a preference to become part of a full factory team if the opportunity should arise.

“I don’t know what the future will bring,” Kubica told Sportscar365. “From one side, of course, it would be nice to continue. On the other hand, I want to be in the most competitive place possible.

“Ferrari offers a competitive car. But I need to see what is possible, what makes sense.

“It’s not a secret from my side that I put a lot of focus on Le Mans. For me, it’s the race, and I want to have the opportunity to race there in a competitive package. 

“What I believe is when you race at the highest level, you have to be the main priority of the structure [to which you belong] in order to maximize your chances.

“It doesn’t mean you have no chance [in a non-factory car]; you never know what can happen and how the race will pan out.

“But in such a competitive era we have now in WEC, you have higher chances if you are the priority. This is not a secret. This is a normal tendency.”

The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari led at Le Mans at the six-hour mark after making the correct call to stay on on slick tires during an early rain shower, and maintained the advantage until Kubica was handed a 30-second stop-and-go for his contact with Vanthoor.

While Kubica said he was certain that he and his teammates would have been in a position to challenge for a win at Le Mans without the No. 83 car’s late problems, he expressed scepticism that such a performance could be repeated in the near future.

“We showed it this year,” when asked if he felt the No. 83 car was capable of fighting for victory at Le Mans. “But frankly, I don’t think these kind of opportunities will be frequent.

“I see no reason we could not fight for the win [before we retired]. We were for sure in a position to fight. When we retired, we were in front of the car that won.

“But if you ask me will this happen again next year? I think you get this kind of chance once every ten years.

“I struggle to believe that one day a privateer car will win Le Mans.”