Nick Heidfeld
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nick Heidfeld | |
|---|---|
 Nick Heidfeld at Nürburgring, 2006 |
|
| F1 Record | |
| Nationality |  German |
| Car # | 15 |
| Current team | BMW Sauber |
| Team for 2007 | BMW Sauber |
| Grands Prix | 115 |
| World Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 5 |
| Pole positions | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First Grand Prix | 2000 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| 2006 Championship position | 9th (20 pts) |
| edit | |
Nick Heidfeld (born May 10, 1977) is a German Formula One auto racing driver for the BMW Sauber factory team. He lives in Stafa, Switzerland with his girlfriend Patricia and baby daughter, Juni.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Heidfeld was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, and began racing in 1988. In 1994, he moved into the German Formula Ford series, and gained widespread attention by winning 8 of the 9 races to take out the title. In 1995, he won the German International Formula Ford 1800 Championship, and came second in the Zetec Cup. This led to a drive in the German International Formula 3 championship for 1996, where he finished third after taking 3 wins. The following year, Heidfeld won the German F3 Championship, including a win at the prestigious Monaco event. In 1998, he won three races and was runner-up in the European Formula 3000 Championship with the West Junior Team, failing to win the title because he lost his pole position at the final race due to a team error. During that season, he was also the official test driver for the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team. In 1999, he won the International Formula 3000 Championship.
[edit] Formula One career
Having impressed with his final season of Formula 3000, Heidfeld was signed as a race driver for the Prost Grand Prix F1 team for the 2000 season, alongside Jean Alesi. Heidfeld struggled with his new car. He suffered a string of retirements and came to blows with team mate Jean Alesi on more than one occasion. He departed Prost at the end of that season. Shortly after he signed a three-year contract with Sauber for 2001, partnered with rookie driver Kimi Räikkönen. After the announcement of Mika Häkkinen's retirement, many thought that Heidfeld would replace him in the McLaren team, as he had outperformed Räikkönen over the year, including a podium position in the Brazilian Grand Prix. However, the seat went to Räikkönen, and Heidfeld stayed with Sauber for 2002 and 2003. At the end of 2003, Heidfeld was dumped from the team and looked to be without a race seat for the 2004 season. F1's forgotten journeyman was set to be confined to the F1 history books. However, after a number of moderately successful tests, it was announced that Heidfeld would race with the Jordan Grand Prix team, alongside rookie Giorgio Pantano. Heidfeld was impressive in a mediocre car, but was not signed for another team in 2005. During the winter, Heidfeld has tested with WilliamsF1, in a 'shootout' with Antônio Pizzonia for the second race seat. At the Williams launch on January 31, it was announced that Heidfeld would be a race driver for the team in 2005.
At the seventh race of the 2005 season at the Nürburgring circuit, his home Grand Prix, Heidfeld took his first ever pole position. He also achieved his best position to-date (2nd) with Williams in Monaco, which he equalled at the Nurburgring.
Heidfeld missed the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix due to injuries suffered in a testing accident. Scheduled to come back for Brazil, he was injured again when hit by a motorbike when out cycling, and therefore forced to sit out the rest of the season.
Nick's 2005 season will be hard to beat in 2006, as he is racing for a team which are expected to be in mid-grid. However, the team are expected to improve with BMW's presence and Nick, with a three year contract, is expecting to be challenging for wins by 2008.
The 2006 season was better than expected - Nick was on form in the season-opener in Bahrain and had it not been for rookie Nico Rosberg hitting Nick's rear at the first corner, a points position was probable. Malaysia, the following race, was even better - Nick ran 5th for the majority of the race and had it not been for an engine blow in the final 7 laps, Nick would have scored 4 points for the team. At Melbourne he was running as high as second until he was caught in some confusion when the safety car came out and eventually finished 4th. At Indianapolis, he was involved in a spectacular first lap accident which saw fellow drivers, Scott Speed, Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya eliminated as well as Nick, who suffered a triple barrel roll, the first of his career and the second of the season (Christijan Albers suffered one at the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix). Fortunately, he and the other drivers all walked away unharmed. The Hungarian Grand Prix saw Nick give the team their first podium and best result to date when he finished 3rd. Nick drove a faultless race from 10th on the grid to finish on the rostrum.
He is frequently referred to as 'Quick Nick' or 'Super Nick'
Heidfeld has recently gone on the verbal attack against media oversaturation of the talent of teammate Robert Kubica, despite being outperformed by him. This has happened three times in the German's career, in 2001 when he was teammates with Kimi Raikkonnen and in 2002 when he was teammates with Felipe Massa, two of his former teammates (who were both outperformed by Nick) will make up Ferrari's driver line-up next year (Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen).
[edit] Career history
| Year | Series | Position | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karting (1986 - 1993) | |||
| 1988 | Club Championship, Kerpen-Mannheim | ||
| 1990 | Nordrhein-Westfalen DMV Kart Championship | Champion | |
| 1991 | Member ADAC junior kart squad | Qualified to take part in European and World Championships. | |
| 1992 | German Junior Kart Championship | 5th | |
| Formula (since 1993) | |||
| 1993 | Formula A World Championship | ||
| 1994 | German Formula Ford 1600 | Champion | 8 wins of 9 starts |
| 1995 | International German Formula Ford 1800 | Champion | |
| German Formula Ford | Runner-up | ||
| 1996 | German Formula Three Championship | 3rd | 138 points, 3 wins, 6 podiums, 1 pole position, 6 fastest laps with Opel Team BSR |
| 1997 | German Formula Three Championship | Champion | 224 points, 5 wins, 11 podiums, 2 pole position, 7 fastest laps with Opel Team BSR |
| 1998 | Formula 3000 | Runner-up | 58 points, 3 wins, 7 podiums, 2 pole position, 3 fastest laps |
| 1999 | Formula 3000 | Champion | 59 points, 4 wins, 7 podiums, 4 pole positions, 6 fastest laps with West Competition Team |
| Formula One Tests | with Prost-Peugeot and McLaren-Mercedes | ||
[edit] Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Team | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Prost | AUS 9 |
BRA Ret |
SMR Ret |
GBR Ret |
ESP 16 |
EUR EX |
MON 8 |
CAN Ret |
FRA 12 |
AUT Ret |
GER 12 |
HUN Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
USA 9 |
JPN Ret |
MYS Ret |
Prost | - | 0 | ||
| 2001 | Sauber | AUS 4 |
MYS Ret |
BRA 3 |
SMR 7 |
ESP 6 |
AUT 9 |
MON Ret |
CAN Ret |
EUR Ret |
FRA 6 |
GBR 6 |
GER Ret |
HUN 6 |
BEL Ret |
ITA 11 |
USA 6 |
JPN 9 |
Sauber | 8th | 12 | ||
| 2002 | Sauber | AUS Ret |
MYS 5 |
BRA Ret |
SMR 10 |
ESP 4 |
AUT Ret |
MON 8 |
CAN 12 |
EUR 7 |
GBR 6 |
FRA 7 |
GER 6 |
HUN 9 |
BEL 10 |
ITA 10 |
USA 9 |
JPN 7 |
Sauber | 10th | 7 | ||
| 2003 | Sauber | AUS Ret |
MYS 8 |
BRA Ret |
SMR 10 |
ESP 10 |
AUT Ret |
MON 11 |
CAN Ret |
EUR 8 |
FRA 13 |
GBR 17 |
GER 10 |
HUN 9 |
ITA 9 |
USA 5 |
JPN 9 |
Sauber | 14th | 6 | |||
| 2004 | Jordan | AUS Ret |
MYS Ret |
BAH 15 |
SMR Ret |
ESP Ret |
MON 7 |
EUR 10 |
CAN 8 |
USA Ret |
FRA 16 |
GBR 15 |
GER Ret |
HUN 12 |
BEL 11 |
ITA 14 |
CHN 13 |
JPN 13 |
BRA Ret |
Jordan | 18th | 3 | |
| 2005 | Williams | AUS Ret |
MYS 3 |
BAH Ret |
SMR 6 |
ESP 10 |
MON 2 |
EUR 2 |
CAN Ret |
USA DNS |
FRA 14 |
GBR 12 |
GER 11 |
HUN 6 |
TUR Ret |
ITA INJ |
BEL INJ |
BRA INJ |
JPN INJ |
CHN INJ |
Williams | 11th | 28 |
| 2006 | BMW | BAH 12 |
MYS Ret |
AUS 4 |
SMR 13 |
EUR 10 |
ESP 8 |
MON 7 |
GBR 7 |
CAN 7 |
USA Ret |
FRA 8 |
GER Ret |
HUN 3 |
TUR 14 |
ITA 8 |
CHN 7 |
JPN 8 |
BRA ret |
BMW | 9th | 23 |
[edit] Reference
Williams give Heidfeld his chance. BBC Sport (31. January, 2005).f
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Unnoficial Nick Heidfeld Fansite
- Nick Heidfeld career early career to F1
- Nick Heidfeld profile and statistics
- Nick Heidfeld statistics
| Constructors and drivers competing in the 2007 Formula One championship | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLaren | Renault | Ferrari | Honda | BMW | Toyota |
| 1 Alonso 2 Hamilton |
3 Fisichella 4 Kovalainen |
5 Massa 6 Räikkönen |
7 Button 8 Barrichello |
9 Heidfeld 10 Kubica |
11 Schumacher 12 Trulli |
| Red Bull | Williams | Toro Rosso | Spyker | Super Aguri | |
| 14 Coulthard 15 Webber |
16 Rosberg 17 Wurz |
18 Liuzzi 19 Speed |
20 Albers 21 ? |
22 Sato 23 Davidson |
|
| Preceded by: Juan Pablo Montoya |
International Formula 3000 Champion 1999 |
Succeeded by: Bruno Junqueira |
