Is Nick Heidfeld making the best out of his third chance?

[wesley123]

While people compare him to Petrov.

Don´t forget that those two drivers have completely different objectives in the team.

Heidfeld was ment to lead the team, push everyone and fight with the Mercs.
Yet he was average, very quiet, very relaxed like he doesn´t care at all, did silly mistakes, finished only slightly better then Petrov most of the time, arguably was equal or worse in Qualifying.

What were Renault spending their money on? They could arguably have thrown in Senna a few races back instead.

+1

Heidfeld was signed to the team and was expected to meet certain goals, he did not meet those goals, that he got fired is pretty logical I think. I dont want 90% of these guys on the forum to be a team boss lol, letting their driver perform under the expectations they were expected to meet

[andrew]

It was a big shame but that's the way thigs go I guess. Looking forward to Senna putting in a good performance on Sunday. Feel kind of robbed after Spa!

[marcush.]

Nick is not Alonso, he is not Hamilton and not Schumacher .
To expect him to be winning or outperforming the car is just a stretch.The car was decent at the first races COMPARED to the others ,as some were simply not ready .
So to sack him for unrealistic expectation not being met is just naive...and simply said he got more points than Petrov and he would have outscored him by whatever margin .
I do not wish Senna bad but I´d be surprised if that turns out to be a move scoring more points -which is the objective.

[HampusA]

Ok, they sacked him for the fun of it. Those Renault boys just sure knows how to have fun...

[HampusA]

Think about it, Heidfeld is a veteran almost.

He probably said "Hey, have you any idea how many years i´ve been in this game? i want this amount of money and i´ll do it"

Renault: Hmm.. yea it is true...ok we´ll hire you.

Races goes by, Renault analyses the races..

"hmm, he´s getting paid this much compared to Petrov, yet he´s just a tiny bit better.
What were we paying for now again?"

[Mr Alcatraz]

He probably said "Hey, have you any idea how many years i´ve been in this game? i want this amount of money and i´ll do it"

Renault: Hmm.. yea it is true...ok we´ll hire you.

Actually the conversation on the record went something like this:

"I really enjoyed the test last week in Jerez and I've already settled in well with the guys at the track. I have a good feeling for the car, which is quite innovative."

Heidfeld will test again at the four-day session which starts on Friday at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, driving the car on Saturday and Monday.

Renault team principal Eric Boullier said the former Sauber, Jordan and Williams driver was the "ideal man for the job".

The team has been through a very difficult couple of weeks and we had to react quickly," said Boullier.

"The announcement comes as no great surprise after the 33-year-old set the fastest time on Saturday.

We gave Nick a chance in Jerez last week and he really impressed us."

As for the sponsors I read a pretty funny comment in regard to them and Renault:

Great news for the team. Free petrol for the cars, free BBQ gas!!, free headache pills for the technical director and free razor blades for Bruno.

Personally I wish Senna all the best.

[PlatinumZealot]

obviously you know more than me .
Heidfeld cannot be made responsible for suffering two times having his car engulfed in flames ..
he struggles with Qualy speed ,no question.But on the other hand we have seen numerous examples of great comeback drives this year ,so who cares if you do not reach Q3 when it´s well possible to finish the race in a better position if you start right at the back BUT on new tires.The Qualy performancew is for driver ego
not really important for your race if a win is not really on the cards (and even that is not completely out of question).

So we have a beard
we have a lazy haircut
a relaxed ,measured approach
a guy who does bring the car home with half the sidepod missing
a guy who drove into the back of Kobayashi on a day when others had the same ...
a guy who scored 34 points in 11 races.

The leadership and what have you is nonsense.He was a temporary fill in and it´s not his fault that Renault decided to drop the wrenches at a critical time and tells stories not fitting with reality at all.

Can anyone imagine what would have happened when Boullier informed Kubica they are going to close the tunnel and switch to a new modelsize in mid season effectively stopping any development and chance to get on top of the present issues?
To say Heidfeld lacked leadership when the team is prepared to come up with such a
plan is complete bollocks and in effect it turns things on the head.

In fact Kubica would have turned simply away bitching publicly about the chaos team when Heidfeld still was positive in public and expressed his hope to finally
get the promised working updates...

You see only the good side. That is understandable, but how do you think of Heidfeld as a "Package." (Remember Temperary is not an excuse not to go 100%).

[wesley123]

Nick is not Alonso, he is not Hamilton and not Schumacher .
To expect him to be winning or outperforming the car is just a stretch.The car was decent at the first races COMPARED to the others ,as some were simply not ready .
So to sack him for unrealistic expectation not being met is just naive...and simply said he got more points than Petrov and he would have outscored him by whatever margin .
I do not wish Senna bad but I´d be surprised if that turns out to be a move scoring more points -which is the objective.

Who says they even expected him to do the same as Alonso or others? They set him goals, and he did not meet them, why is it so hard to understand that? Renault asked 3 simple things of him:
-Lead the team
-Be consistent
-Help in development of the car.
Would you held a driver that after half a season doesnt meet these requirements, Requirements that he agreed to? I am sure I would not, I would have sacked Heidfeld even earlier.

[marcush.]

reality-who are the alternatives?
Who would have scored MORE in the situation? led the team better?



I´m not so sure .....just hear the nonsense bruno is airing about his relationship with collegues claiming he is asking them where they floor the throttle and where they brake ...comeon... ..How can he be 7th in Qualy and having to ask ruby where he does what on the Track ...just rediculous.

[noname]

Nick spent over a decade in F1 and he did not impress any of top teams during this time, for this reason or another.

He was given another chance and true is RF1 was not impressed either. We may argue over what they are saying but, at the end of the day, they are the only ones able to make decision.

Is Bruno capable of scoring more points ? I am not sure, but chances he can develop (be developed) in what RF1 wants are bigger than in the case of Nick.
On top of that Bruno has good name, having Senna in the team brings more attention, even if only for short period of time.

It may not be fair to Nick, but life's not fair and F1 is event worse in this regard.

[HampusA]

He probably said "Hey, have you any idea how many years i´ve been in this game? i want this amount of money and i´ll do it"

Renault: Hmm.. yea it is true...ok we´ll hire you.

Actually the conversation on the record went something like this:

"I really enjoyed the test last week in Jerez and I've already settled in well with the guys at the track. I have a good feeling for the car, which is quite innovative."

Heidfeld will test again at the four-day session which starts on Friday at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, driving the car on Saturday and Monday.

Renault team principal Eric Boullier said the former Sauber, Jordan and Williams driver was the "ideal man for the job".

The team has been through a very difficult couple of weeks and we had to react quickly," said Boullier.

"The announcement comes as no great surprise after the 33-year-old set the fastest time on Saturday.

We gave Nick a chance in Jerez last week and he really impressed us."

As for the sponsors I read a pretty funny comment in regard to them and Renault:

Great news for the team. Free petrol for the cars, free BBQ gas!!, free headache pills for the technical director and free razor blades for Bruno.

Personally I wish Senna all the best.

Notice the words Jerez last week. This was in the beginning.

It´s obvious he did not live up to Renaults goal. How can you even debate that?
You really think they did it for fun?

[xpensive]

...
It´s obvious he did not live up to Renaults goal. How can you even debate that?
You really think they did it for fun?

It's called having an opinion Humpty, is that such a novel concept to yourself?

[Richard]

What were these mythical goals? Have they been written down? Are they measurable? The only realistic goal for a stand in driver is to score more points than your teammate, who by the way is turning out to be quite talented.

Could those saying he didn't meet expectation please explain how a mid level driver is supposed to provide the Herculean leadership that will have an impact on a team already set up for someone else, where you have had no choice of how the team is structured, or who is in the team, and where everyone knows your days are numbered because Kubica is back next year?

Renault went for Senna for cash and his development potential in future years. Senna appears to be a better proposition now, but that is not to say Senna would have been a better option at the start, or that Heidfeld failed.


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Edit to add - The real underlying problem is that Renault probably hoped to battle with Merc thanks to their FEE. Seeing Merc struggle combined with early promise of the R31 further raised expectation of a 4th place finish. Reality has hit home that the FEE isn't a magic bullet and the R31 is mid level car driven by mid level drivers. The team are under pressure for performance, but you can't change the car, nor sack the pay driver, so the outsider doing a temping job takes the hit.

The team principal is then seen as taking decisive action in sacking the temp(although no other driver could have done any better) and he puffs out his chest in pride at his heroic leadership (they all like to be heros). Best of all, the replacement rookie is called Senna! What a stoke of fortune! Cash in the bank, champagne all round!

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Final point - It was interesting that Heidfeld didn't go easily. That suggests that he was meeting his contractual goals, if there were any in the contract.

[Mr Alcatraz]

@ HampusA, Don't loose your venom on me. My quote was in response to this

He probably said "Hey, have you any idea how many years i´ve been in this game? i want this amount of money and i´ll do it"

Renault: Hmm.. yea it is true...ok we´ll hire you.

Notice the words Jerez last week. This was in the beginning.

which was also in the beginning. I was simply quoting what we do know was said, not what might have been said by Nick (which I find highly unlikely), and Boullier to get his seat.

It´s obvious he did not live up to Renaults goal. How can you even debate that?
You really think they did it for fun?

As I stated earlier in this thread, I don't know what Renault's expectations for him were going in . Do you know why? It's not on the record. As far as I'm concerned he drove the car and scored some decent points. That is all I suspected he would do. What I quoted is Boullier own words on why he gave him the seat.
This nebulous thread topic itself is the ultimate rhetorical question, and lends itself to opinion. I respect your position to disagree with me, but it's not worth this level of contentiousness, at least not to me.

[HampusA]

They fired him for fun.. Apparently that is what people think.

"Hey Nick, fantastic job this season, renault is super happy..
But, unfortunately we have to fire you."

-Why?
-Because you are absolutely stellar at what you are doing, that´s why.