Robert Kubica has tried out the Mercedes team’s Formula One simulator in another sign of the Polish driver’s burning desire to return to grand prix racing.

“Yes, I was in the Mercedes F1 simulator in the past,” the former Sauber and Renault driver told the autosport.com website while competing in the Azores round of the European Rally Championship at the weekend.

The Pole, fighting back from arm and hand injuries he sustained in a near-fatal rally crash more than two years ago, would not say how many times he drove it nor how many laps he did. Nor would he confirm whether he would be in the simulator again.

There was no official comment from Mercedes.

Kubica is desperate to revive his Formula One career. Last month he said that he would “pay all the money I have to be back in the cockpit of a Formula One car” and suggested that he could already handle certain circuits such as Barcelona.

Monaco, with its many twists and turns, would still be too much of a challenge however.

A race winner with Sauber in 2008, Kubica last drove in Formula One with Renault in 2010.

The 28-year-old did 114 laps of Spain’s Valencia circuit in a DTM (German Touring Car championship) Mercedes in January but opted for a programme of world and European championship rallying over that series.