There is a photograph, taken in 2000, of three teenagers on the podium of a European championship kart race. All three are now Formula One drivers. To the right is a smiling Nico Rosberg, to the left a rueful-looking Lewis Hamilton and the boy in the middle – the one holding the winner’s trophy – is Robert Kubica.

The story of how Kubica became the first driver from Poland to make it into F1 and the first from any country in the former Soviet bloc to win a grand prix, is remarkable. He had success early on, winning the Polish kart championship six times. He then persuaded his father Artur to let him measure himself against the best in the world in Italy, the beating heart of the kart world.