It's good to hear and I hope for the best, Kubica is a great driver.
One thing I never got though, there was a ton of hype for him that I never understood. Yes he got high praise from some of the teams he worked with (Renault talking him up right now saying if he was driving in 2012 in Raikkonen's place he would have been WDC
) but he never struck me as someone who'd surpass that '2nd tier' of drivers. You know the guys who are really really good, but just shy of the top spots. I'm thinking drivers like Rosberg, Massa, Button, even arguably Kimi, they have great days and with the right team became champions, even over excellent teammates, outperforming top tier drivers, but they can't punch above their weight as hard or consistently as Hamilton Alonso and Vettel can.
Who would he replace? I'm sure most people thought Hulk's career would have ended long ago but I bet Renault is supremely disappointed in Palmer's results.
Am I the only one who gets bored of the current F1 season about halfway through? It's like, ok look at the WCC standings, those probably won't change, maybe a driver will swing above (like Vettel may do to give Ferrari it's first championship since Kimi, who would have guessed that one 10 years ago?) but other than that a few teams will find good form, a few will drop off but we're pretty much locked in at this point.
Will Raikkonen retire? Ferrari play it safe with keeping him as a second driver? Alonso out at Mclaren? Will Mclaren have a competitive power unit next year and elevate a mid-field driver? Will my love for Grosjean be vindicated as I run out of underdog mid-fielders I like now that Bottas is successful? Will Ricciardo and Verstappen finally get some solid luck and equipment to make it at least a 3-horse race again? Could Perez get another shot at a top team via Ferrari? Or Grosjean?
I mean, aside from a Bottas upset, I don't care if it's Hamilton or Vettel putting another notch on their bedpost, I'm ready for 2018.