Robert Kubica on finally realising his Ferrari dream in WEC: 'It was tough'

It’s even more impressive in light of the Balance of Performance changes which saw the Scuderia heavily weighed down by ballast compared to most of its rivals, not that it greatly troubled Kubica – he’s been through greater hardships.

“Right now I don’t feel any difference wherever I’m sitting in the paddock,” he says. “But if you’d asked me two or three months ago if [the dream of driving for] Ferrari had influence on my decision, then I would say yes, definitely.

“There are a few reasons. The primary one is the one when I had my rally accident in 2011, I was signed as a Ferrari driver for future years.

“And this thing has not been easy to digest for a very, very long period. On the other hand, it’s also difficult to say no – the history of this brand.”

However as Kubica emphasises, he’s not all romance: “In the end you have to look for as competitive packages as you can have.

“When the helmet is on, you want performance, you don’t care if it’s yellow, red, pink, orange – it has to go fast.

“It’s not going to be easy, but I was never scared of going for a tough challenge – you have a bigger satisfaction.

“I’m the kind of the driver who races the car, plus likes to go deeper into the driving role, understand the car. It’s been like this since I was young, when I was 15/16, and living in a workshop. I didn’t have money to rent an apartment! The passion was always there.”

However, Ferrari is keen to emphasise that Kubica is not a works driver, but his two young upstart team-mates are.

As a duo, Shwartzman and Ye cut a quirky, amusing presence – both confident, the Israeli likes to emphasise his precocious experience, while the more reserved Ye is clearly a studious fan of the sport.

A long-time Ferrari junior driver, 23-year-old Shwartzman has taken part in several F1 free practice sessions as well as testing IndyCar machinery and racing in GT3 categories after finishing runner-up in F2. ‘Self-assured’ is the key phrase.

“I’ve tried every single car, every single category,” he asserts. “I have experienced in everything, so I feel confident in myself.

“My ambition is always to win – to have a long go here, to win Le Mans and the world championship.

“Who knows what the future holds – but I want to believe it’s for the long term. It’s a big project for my future.”

While ‘Shwartzy’ advises Motor Sport to check out his new single, ‘ACTIVE‘, Ye seems to be all about the racing.

Though also young at 23, he too has been on a journey – which says makes his recent promotion to the Scuderia all the sweeter.

“It was like a bombshell in China,” he says of the reaction back home. “Having the first Chinese driver integrated into a team such as Ferrari is huge.

“It’s also something I worked so much towards. I left China when I was 14 years old, I lived on my own, did my own laundry, food shopping, on my own 10,000 kilometres away from my family, learning French, English and now with Italian as well.

“I had a lot of suffering, but having achieved my goal – getting into machinery which will help me become the first Chinese driver to win Le Mans overall – it gives me a big boost. I will just keep trying to reward the people who followed me over the past few years in China.”

“He’s different from other young drivers,” says team boss Antonello Coletta of Yifei, who drove the Jota Porsche in last year’s championship. “He’s very intelligent, in a very mature way.

“The Chinese market is [also] easily one of most important markets for the future [for Ferrari’s road car division].”

“If we are intelligent and we work together, I don’t see a reason why we should not perform,” adds Kubica.

“We have all ingredients to do a good dish – how good it will be only depends on us!”