Kubica set for Formula One support role after leaving Williams

Robert Kubica's Williams seat will be taken by current Formula Two driver Nicholas Latifi, who has been promoted from the team's reserve.

Robert Kubica will leave Williams after the final race of the 2019 season.

Robert Kubica is hoping to balance a Formula One support role with a seat in the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) after leaving Williams.

Kubica, who suffered a career-threatening injury in a crash in 2011, restarted his F1 career in 2019 by joining up with Williams, but announced his decision to leave the team after one season back in September.

The Pole has taken just one point this season and sits 19th, with only his Williams team-mate George Russell below him in the F1 standings.

Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will mean a farewell to F1 in a racing capacity for Kubica – temporarily at least – though the 34-year-old has confirmed he is keen to stay in the competition, with talks underway with both Racing Point and Haas over a development role. 

However, a sponsorship arrangement with his backers PKN Orlen also has to be factored into negotiations.

"The decision from my side has been taken," Kubica said of his future. "I don't want to go too much into the details now. It's a bit more complicated stuff and we have to make sure we make it work from different perspectives and different points.

"I'm pretty optimistic and, although not everything depends from my side and it has been more complicated because I would like to combine different programmes, it requires a bit more work and [further] compromises.

"My racing programme is 100 per cent up to me. My F1 role, of course there is a second part, which is Orlen. They would like to stay in Formula 1 and we want to see if we can match everything together as it would be beneficial for everyone. 

"I'm looking for a big challenge, and definitely DTM, which is the [series which has the] highest probability that I will be racing in, it's probably the toughest championship apart from Formula One in Europe.

"Let's put it this way, if I manage to race there, I would be happy with it. If we manage to combine a few things to make everybody happy, I'm open to this."

Kubica's Williams seat will be taken by current Formula Two driver Nicholas Latifi, who has been promoted from the team's reserve.