Nick Heidfeld - the forgotten man of the silly season?

[Yoong Montoya]

http://www.planetf1.com/Home/story_13527.shtml

Poor Nick - if his F1 career is over at just 26, then F1 really does have serious problems. He beat both Raikkonen and Massa, both of whom have bright futures ahead of them. He finished 8th at Nurburgring after starting dead last from the pits, and also finished 5th in the wet at Indianapolis - neither of these drives not noticed.

I feel a bit sorry for him - if he ends up having to quit F1 while some pay driver bunny gets a chance he doesn't deserve, F1 has really serious problems. It seems that most F1 fans only like spectacular drivers and think all smooth drivers are ****

[Adam43]

I am surprised that he hasn't been linked to the Jaguar seat more.

The points about Raikkonen and Massa are valid, but I suppose it comes down to the fact that Heidfeld has never really grabbed the attention of the team bosses like the other two did.

[enemy-ace]

Methinks Heidfeld needs more aggressive management. His results are good considering the cars he's driven. He needs to stop knocking on doors and start kicking some in!

[GP Racer]

He not only needs more aggressive mgmt., he also needs to be on a more aggressive team. God, was Sauber invisible this year! Little marketing and little PR surely made Sauber and it's drivers the forgotten contender's.

I'm afraid Nick would have been better off driving for Jordan or Minardi, at least they know how to muck up some excitement! Good luck to Fisi, we may forget all about him in Sauber-Land!

[Mattracer]

I agree, Sauber doesn't ripple the waters much. Solid and safe results but with known flaws that curiosly get exploited to the team's advantage, Jaguar would have been a good place to be. Look at Webber, car was known to be unreliable and slow. Now, it is fairly reliable (for Webber) and usually in the top 5 before the pole runoffs.
This is the sort of headline-making that gets careers going in the right direction.

[twig]

People said that a third year at Sauber would be a bad decision.........it seems that is the case now.

I hope he gets a drive, he really hasnt had much attention on him recently, but he hasnt done anything wrong to deserve no seat at all.

He was damn quick too. Poor kid.

[Super Tourer]

I think it's been well summed up, Nick's kind of anonymous in F1, I can't think of any particularly great or poor moments during his F1 career.

He didn't blow the doors off HHF this year, who's known to be a patchy performer at best. The comparison's with Kimi and Massa are fair enought but neither had the International experience that Nick had, either in F1 or the categories below.

I think the feeling is that Nick is a steady plodder and no more, fine for when teams are looking for a steady driver, but currently they either want some spark or a fully funded driver.

In terms of that something special, Nick obviously hasn't shown enough - even for long time mentor's Mercedes to keep him on the books.

[DriverT]

Yes, he doesn't really have anything to pick him out from the vast majority of other drivers. He seems to me a little like Alesi, who was a charger when he came into F1 but since then apart from winning the Canadian GP in 1995 did nothing special at all. Both of them seem (or seemed) content to "cruise and collect".

[BootsOntheSide]

I think that's extremely unfair on Alesi. the guy used to throw the car around aggressively, always looking to extract 101% performance, especially in the wet. While his Canada win was a little fortunate, it partly made up for many others (USA 90, Monza 94, Monza 97) that he deserved to win.

I'm not sure it's fair on Heidfeld either, although it is to an extent. Sauber always seems to be a cruise-and-collect kind of team, only Massa has been a real exception by showing wild (and not always beneficial) driving as a rookie.

Still, Nick rarely beats drivers in sueprior cars in qualifying or does much raceday overtaking unless he's ended up down the grid. As a wise man once said, "if everything looks under control, you're not going fast enough", and Nick has never looked fast.

A Jordan-Mercedes team would be his main hope of a race drive for next year.

[DriverT]

OK - maybe I'm being unfair on Alesi. But I mean in terms of results. But you're right, Nick has never looked fast other than at the start of his career.

[BootsOntheSide]

It's impressive to be able to admit to a misjudgment so quickly, so thank you and well done for that.

Heidfeld strikes me as a great enigma. He did really well in F3000 and his stint at Prost was unfairly under-rated. Yet when he went to Sauber, two lucky early-season results inflated his stock and led to him being seen as one of the top 5 drivers of 2001 by many.

However, as the season went on his performances were only average, in hindsight, and Kimi certainly had more of a greatness spark. Few wold now argue with McLaren's decision. He did look the better driver, at present, to Massa, but again has been passed over.

2003 was a bad situation with a staid-looking team that's lost its impetus in quick time, and he's had little chance to impress. A few good low-fuel qualifying positions haven't boosted his status, and the scrapheap may beckon, which is something of a waste, as he can be relied on to bring a car home and usually get good, if not great, performances.

[Bononi]

Poor kid. Another one to the anonymous drivers list...

[Knowlesy]

Forget him being the forgotten man of off season. All through 2003 he was the forgotten man, mainly because he made Frentzen look young and fresh. And he was utterly anonymous all year.

Given the promise he showed in F3000, that is unacceptable.

[f1manoz]

I hope he's on the grid for next year. I've supported him for years now. It can't all end now!!!!

It's a shame he's been so anonymous this year. And anyone who thinks HHF did better, remember this - HHF's two best results were flukes more than anything

If Nick can get a seat next year, at least it won't be at Sauber as the team has been sliding the past three years. A great 2001, an okay 2002, a terrible 2003. They all needed a change of scenery.

Jaguar would be a good seat for Nick, as the Jaguar management wouldn't mind a German driver, but apparently you need money for the second seat. Nick could end up at Jordan as well, but that would only be if Mercedes engines came with him.

Really, the young lad is screwed no matter how you look at it.