Formula 1 race winner Robert Kubica is looking increasingly certain to remain with the AF Corse customer Hypercar team in the World Endurance Championship next year.
Kubica told Motorsport.com that he “didn’t come here for just one year” when questioned after last weekend’s 2024 WEC finale in Bahrain about whether he would race the yellow-liveried Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar again.
But he stressed that “there is a lot of work to do” for next year at a team that claimed victory at Austin in September but failed to consistently match the factory arm of the AF team over the season.
“It is not an easy decision, so we will see,” he said.
Kubica, who partnered Ferrari factory drivers Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman in AF’s satellite entry in 2024, had discussions with team boss Amato Ferrari over the course of the WEC finale in Bahrain last weekend.
Ferrari explained that he was hopeful that Kubica will remain with the team next year.
“Everything is positive and we all want Robert back, but no deal is done,” he said.
Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s head of sportscar racing, also expressed hopes that Kubica will stay, saying “Our dream is to maintain Robert with us”.
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson, Yifei Ye
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Kubica remained with AF at the Bahrain International Circuit on the day after the WEC race for Phil Hanson’s first test in the Ferrari he will race in the WEC next year.
The Briton, who is swapping over from the British Jota customer Porsche team when it becomes Cadillac’s factory WEC squad, is the first driver to be announced for the #83 AF entry for next year.
Shwartzman is leaving Ferrari at the end of this year, Coletta confirmed.
He explained that the 25-year-old will depart both the line-up at AF and Ferrari’s roster of factory drivers after he “decided to make another choice”.
Shwartzman, who has been a Ferrari Formula 1 reserve since 2023 after graduating from the Italian manufacturer’s academy programme, will be announced as the team-mate of the already confirmed Callum Ilott at Prema’s new IndyCar team imminently.
Ye, who became a factory Ferrari driver for this season, is expected to remain in the line-up of the #83 car.