Heidfeld to return? Soon?

Good news to hear about the return of Heifeld.

I feel sorry for the guy. A contract was almost signed with Mercedes, but his seat was taken to make room for Schumacher's return in a PR exercise orchestrated by Haug.

The stunt backfired, and Schu never deliverd what we were promised.
Young Niko Rosberg runs circles around the ageing German idol.

It's good that Heifeld gets a drive; he is one of the unsung hero of F1.

Years ago, Heifeld was promised a drive at McLaren, and served his time as tester here, before being dumped by Ron Dennis, to make room for Hakkinen ( I think).

He spent years at Sauber, before driving for Williams and giving them some good results.
Signing for Brawn-Mercedes, he ended on the sidelines, at tester, in an era where testing is banned.

I would be glad if he was given another chance at Sauber.

It's a pity it's not at Mercedes, where I suspect he would be on a par with Rosberg, and
better than Schu.

 

William, actually Kimi snagged the seat that was supposed to go to Nick at McLaren. I never understood why De La Rosa got that seat at Sauber in the first place, considering the job he did at McLaren during JPM's replacement in 2006.

 

You are right, I got mixed up with the 2 Finns!

If I remember rightly, before going to Sauber as Kimi's team mate, Heifeld had a testing role of some sort at McLaren.
I remember him driving a demo McLaren at the Festival of Speed at Goodwood several years ago.
Heifeld was one of those young drivers Ron Dennis took under his wing and then spat away.

I was surprised that De La Rosa was chosen by Peter Sauber. Obviously Heifeld was still under contract at Mercedes then.

 

Heidfeld was part of the Mclaren junior program. He was on loan to Sauber from Mclaren and was suppost to get Hakkinen seat when he retired, but Ron Dennis had a change of heart and signed Raikkonen. Ron said Kimi reminded him of a younger Mika

 

Thanks for getting that right.
I knew that at some point, Heifeld was with McLaren, but never got a drive in GPs.

 

Yeah it was pretty ****ty as I think Heidfeld is a real talented driver, just look at his achievements prior to F1. In F3000, his first season he finished second in the championship(raced against Montoya and gave him hell), the next season he dominated winning the championship. Before that he won the German F3 championship in his second season and third in his first. Pretty much everything he raced in before F1, he won the championship. I think his confidence got hurt when Ron Dennis pick Kimi over him. Remember they were teammates at Sauber.

 

I'd like to see him get a straight shot in one of the top cars. It seems like most of his years were spent driving for a team in flux, whether on the rise or on the decline.

 

I have been thinking about that myself. I can't say whether he'd be better than MS or not. He certainly is not on Rosberg's level.

From purely a PR perspective getting MS back from retirement was however the much better move for MB. At least for the beginning of the season.

And whether the move pays off ultimately, we'll see next season when we get to see the Mike-Mobile (despite Brawn's claims to the contrary).

As for the sport: Having had MS back was definitely the bigger story/attracting viewers and race attendance than giving the second seat to Heidi. And even now that MS does'nt meet expectations, this is a more interesting story than Heidfeld in the Merc.

I like Heidfeld a lot, but I consider him a journey man. It will however be interesting next season to see where he ends up in comparison to Rosberg and MS.

 

He's at Sauber for the rest of the season:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8994638.stm

I assume this means he will no longer be doing testing work for Pirelli. Who will do that instead? Sounds like the perfect job for Mr Schumacher?

 

And here it is on the official F1 website:

Formula 1™ - The Official F1™ Website: Heidfeld replaces De la Rosa at BMW Sauber

I don't know why he's surprised... 6 points compared to Kamui Kobayashi's 21? Out of the races he's not retired from due to reliability:

• 12
• 11
• 12
• 14
• 7 (6 points)
• 11
• 14

Compared to Kobayashi:

• 12
• 10 (1 point)
• 7 (6 points)
• 6 (8 points)
• 11
• 9 (2 points)
• 8 (4 points)

I think De la Rosa might be done, even if he would like to come back to a race seat in 2011 - it's a bit of a shame for him, but I just don't think he's quick enough any more.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Was he ever?

Good analysis.

When Sauber hired delaPink and let Heidi go, the Swiss were furious because they knew DLR was way over the hill. He was never fast to begin with. Not that Heidi is so much better, but at least he managed to keep up with Kubica when they drove together. Granted the team totally dissed Kubica, but still.

 

Well, I thought he did ok when he replaced Montoya at short notice for those few races. But that was the only time he ever really impressed me.

Thanks Andreas.

Agreed.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Good to see him back, but Pirelli wants to retain him as their test driver and work something out with Sauber. If Sauber stick with Ferrari engines, could be an advantage, but if they switch engines?????? Regardless, wouldn't this be a conflict of interest and an unfair advantage?

 

GREAT to see him back! I've always like him. I was almost split between BMW and Ferrari when he and Kubica were team mates.

 

I look forward to more pre-race grid walks where he tells Brundle that he is "very happy with my wanking*."!

*He meant ranking, but has a problem with his R's