Nick Heidfeld

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Nick Heidfeld
Nick Heidfeld at Nürburgring, 2006
Nationality	German
Car #	9
Current team	BMW Sauber
World Championship career
Races	119 (116 starts)
World Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	5
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	0
First race	2000 Australian Grand Prix


Latest race	2007 Australian Grand Prix
2007 Championship position	4th (5 pts)

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 daughter, Juni (born July 2005). They are expecting their second child at the end of July 2007.

1 Early career
2 Formula One career
3 Career history
- 3.1 Complete Formula One results
4 References
5 External links

[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. He also holds the official lap record at the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed.

[edit] Formula One career

Heidfeld driving for Jordan at the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix.

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. 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 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.^[1]

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 driving for Williams at the 2005 US GP.

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 gained a three year contract with his then current team's (Williams) engine supplier and with BMW Sauber's three year plan he is expecting to be challenging for wins by 2008.

Heidfeld at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.

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.

At the end of 2006, Heidfeld was quoted as going on the verbal attack against media oversaturation of the talent of teammate Robert Kubica, despite scoring more points than the Pole.^[2] This has happened three times in the German's career, in 2001 when he was teammates with Kimi Räikkönen (by season's end he beat Kimi by 12 points to 9) and in 2002 when he was teammates with Felipe Massa (beating Felipe by 7 points to 4), both of whom will be making up the 2007 Ferrari line-up.

He is frequently referred to as 'Quick Nick'.^[3]

[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
1995	German Formula Ford	Runner-up
1996	German Formula Three Championship	3rd	138 points, 3 wins, 6 podia, 1 pole position, 6 fastest laps with Opel Team BSR
1997	German Formula Three Championship	Champion	224 points, 5 wins, 11 podia, 2 pole position, 7 fastest laps with Opel Team BSR
1998	Formula 3000	Runner-up	58 points, 3 wins, 7 podia, 2 pole position, 3 fastest laps
1999	Formula 3000	Champion	59 points, 4 wins, 7 podia, 4 pole positions, 6 fastest laps with West Competition Team
1999	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	MAL Ret			Prost	-	0
2001	Sauber	AUS 4	MAL 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	MAL 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	MAL 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	MAL Ret	BHR 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	MAL 3	BHR Ret	SMR 6	ESP 10	MON 2	EUR 2	CAN Ret	USA DNS	FRA 14	GBR 12	GER 11	HUN 6	TUR Ret	ITA DNS	BEL INJ	BRA INJ	JPN INJ	CHN INJ	Williams	11th	28
2006	BMW	BHR 12	MAL 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
2007	BMW	AUS 4	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA			BMW	4th	5

[edit] References

^ "Williams give Heidfeld his chance", BBC Sport, 2005-01-31. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
^ "Heidfeld denies Kubica rift", Planet-F1.com, 2007-01-09. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.
^ "Quick Nick puts Sauber traction in action", Grandprix.com, 2001-04-05. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.

[edit] External links

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Nick Heidfeld

Constructors and drivers competing in the 2007 Formula One championship
McLaren	Renault	Ferrari	Honda	BMW	Toyota	Red Bull	Williams	Toro Rosso	Spyker	Super Aguri
1 Alonso 2 Hamilton	3 Fisichella 4 Kovalainen	5 Massa 6 Räikkönen	7 Button 8 Barrichello	9 Heidfeld 10 Kubica	11 Schumacher 12 Trulli	14 Coulthard 15 Webber	16 Rosberg 17 Wurz	18 Liuzzi 19 Speed	20 Sutil 21 Albers	22 Sato 23 Davidson