Robert Kubica has played down his chances of fighting for victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, even though his car should be well-suited to the tight and twisty Hungaroring circuit.
The Pole was very fast at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year, fighting for pole position and the win, and his performance there prompted talk he could stage a repeat at this weekend's event. However, Kubica believes that his R30 does not quite have the speed needed to take the fight to the current pacesetters Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and McLaren.
"I think it will be a more suitable track for our car and I hope we can be closer to the front than we were in Germany," he said. "But I honestly don't think we can hope to repeat the kind of pace we showed in Monaco earlier this season."
Kubica finished seventh in Germany last weekend, and reckons that was pretty much the best he could expect.
"I think we achieved the limit of our car and we were 'best of the rest' in Hockenheim, but we know that there is a big gap to the fastest teams at the moment – and also that the teams behind us are very close," he explained. "This means that we have to get everything perfect across the race weekend to qualify in the top 10, and finish in the points."