Kubica replaces Alonso

Robert Kubica will replace Fernando Alonso at Renault next season, the team said in a statement yesterday.

No details were given about the length of the contract, although Renault said it was from 2010 onwards.

Kubica has driven for the BMW-Sauber team since 2006 while Alonso, one of the 24-year-old’s best friends in the paddock, is moving to Ferrari next year.

The Pole won last year’s Canadian Grand Prix and had been approached by several teams, including Toyota and Williams, once BMW announced they were quitting the sport at the end of the season.

“I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season,” Kubica said.

“I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault. This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula One.”

Former champions Renault are licking their wounds after a scandal-hit year, with the team handed a suspended permanent ban from the sport for their role in a race-fixing controversy.

Kubica, an extremely quick and aggressive driver, has a no-nonsense style that will fit in well with the team’s restructuring.

The tall Pole has also come up the hard way, with no family wealth to support him and from a country with no previous involvement in Formula One.

Although he had an impressive first test with Renault, he was snapped up by BMW-Sauber from under their noses as a test driver. He then replaced Canada’s 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve as a race driver half way through 2006.

Renault did not mention the second driver, currently French rookie Romain Grosjean.

Abu Dhabi circuit

The Abu Dhabi circuit which hosts Formula One’s first day-to-night race next month has passed its final inspection by the sport’s governing body, organisers said.

The track, which stages the season-ending grand prix at Yas Island on Nov. 1, was given the green light by FIA race director Charlie Whiting during a visit this week.

The 55-lap event is due to start in daylight at 17.00 local (3 p.m. Malta time) and, with lap times of around one minute 40 seconds predicted, end in darkness under floodlights at around 18.30 local.