Known to be a man of few wasted words, but also one in whom the passion for motor racing burns brightly, Robert Kubica cuts a faintly enigmatic figure in the paddock. He wears the trappings of the partially off-duty Formula 1 driver - team kit, not fireproofs - and yet he still remains tantalisingly outside the circle of F1's elite, in spite of the sheer focus that's gone into his rehabilitation from the accident that nearly cost him his hand - and his life.

Robert was once a keen poker player (although not any more... read on), and whatever thwarted ambitions he carries with him do not manifest themselves on his face. F1 Racing passes him the cards - it's a chunky pack; only Kimi Raikkonen would generate such a similarly overflowing postbag - and seemingly without thinking, he shuffles the cards. Old habits die hard.

So too, it seems, does the competitive spirit. What becomes crystal clear over the course of the next half an hour is that despite missing out on the Williams race seat he so coveted, Kubica remains as competitive and committed as ever...