For the time being, Lotus Renault hasn't announced anything on this topic, as they first need to have something definitive on Kubica's medical condition before making that decision. With the doctors saying they need at least one more week to correctly evaluate the condition of Kubica's right hand, team boss Eric Boullier told AFP that naming a replacement is out of the question for the time being.
“It is too early and impolite to think of a replacement driver. We are waiting for news of Robert and how long he will be out of action before we think of taking such a decision,” he said, according to the aforementioned source.
In case Kubica will miss out on the F1 action for a whole season, Renault might consider signing an experienced driver for their 2011 campaign, as Vitaly Petrov has only one season under his belt in F1. Nick Heidfeld, Kimi Raikkonen and even Nico Hulkenberg are names that are speculated by the media, but needless to say no official comments were made on this topic by either of these parties.
In the event of Kubica missing only a few rounds (or up to half a season), Renault has a bunch of test/reserve drivers lineup up to take his spot in the team, from Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean to Ho-Pin Tung, Jan Charouz and Fairuz Fauzy.
However, according to a statement from Senna when he was announced as new reserve driver for the Enstone based organization, he will be the one to race the R31 in the event something happens to either Kubica or Petrov. He then joked that if either of the two “break a leg or something like that, then ... they know who is going to replace him.”
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