Robert Kubica has said he must return to Formula One this year after a career-threatening rally crash and that he will be a better driver when he does.

However, the Pole recognized that he faced a tougher challenge than when he broke his arm in a road accident eight years ago. The Renault driver told yesterday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper in a bedside interview at his Italian hospital that he could feel the fingers in his right hand.

"I must come back this year," he said, recalling another incident seven years ago when he broke his arm while travelling as a passenger in a car driven by a friend that was hit by a drunk driver.

"It was the same right arm, crushed. But after four days I could not feel it as well as now and that is a comfort.

"I want to get back on the track stronger than ever," he added. "Because after these accidents you are not the same, you improve. It happened to me in 2007, after the crash in Canada. I was out for a race and when I came back I was better.

"A driver is not just accelerator and steering wheel, he's something more ... I am stronger as a driver and mentally since 2007. And it will be the same this time."

Doctors have said it could take Kubica a year to recover fully from an accident that left him with serious hand, arm and leg injuries. Renault has accepted he will be out for at least three months.

Kubica suffered heavy blood loss and was in surgery for seven hours on Sunday as two teams of surgeons worked to save his right hand.

"I'll do whatever I can to come back as soon as possible," Poland's main sports daily Przeglad Sportowy quoted him as saying.

The 26-year-old recalled also how in 2003 doctors had warned him he faced a year out of racing. Instead, he returned to Formula Three after six weeks.