Kubica looks back on horrible '07 crash: "I knew I was in big trouble"

Current Williams reserve driver Robert Kubica has looked back on his terrifying crash during the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, the same venue where he won his first and only Grand Prix four years later in 2011.

Talking to F1 Racing, Kubica recalls that he knew he was in big trouble as soon as he shot off the track.

"When the car got launched, I could see the top of the stands," he remembers.

"Normally you can't see that from the track, so I knew I was in big trouble."

And that he was. He wasn't exaggerating when he said he got launched, he really did get launched.

 He hit debris, causing his front wheels to lift off, leaving him steerless. He smashed into the wall, almost hitting a Toro Rosso car that was parked there in the process, and bounced off the wall, flipping around before coming to a halt at the other side of the road. Notice how his feet are dangling out of the front of the cockpit! Luckily, Kubica only suffered minor injuries.

"I remembered an oil leak and that the oil felt hot.

"When I got out of the car, I realised I was okay - only my ankle hurt a little.

"When I told the doctors that I was okay, they looked at me with big eyes, because they thought I was in shock!

"It was a small miracle."

It was indeed a small miracle, but it also shows how far safety has come in the F1. Kubica pretty much crashed into a wall head-on at full speed and climbed out perfectly fine. If that happened say 25 years ago, we're not sure Kubica would be here to tell that story...