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Rob01 wrote:May 6 (GMM) Nick Heidfeld has admitted he has been surprised with the strong pace shown by his Renault teammate Vitaly Petrov so far in 2011 while saying that he believes he is as good as Robert Kubica who he is substituting for.
As fast as Kubica in raw speed, but he's getting there.
Boullier reckons Heidfeld's season has not been "good enough" and believes the German has to improve to be able to match Petrov's pace right from the start of the GP weekends.
"I don't know," Boullier told AUTOSPORT when asked what Heidfeld needed to do. "I need to sit down with him and understand his concerns and to have a fair understanding of the situation.
"It needs to be from practice one to be at least on Vitaly's pace and it looks like there is always a delay, and qualifying if you are not ready car wise, balance wise and confidence wise then you cannot deliver on one single lap."
When asked to rate Heidfeld's season so far, he said: "Let's say good, but not good enough.
"Sunday is okay. Sunday's pace is good, it is very good, but obviously the higher we qualify on the grid, the better the chance we have to score more points."
Boullier also conceded the team's qualifying form is a concern after failing to get any cars into Q3 in Monaco.
"If you are first and third on the grid, that is not a worry. But if you are 11th and 16th then that starts to be a worry."
Nick's star has waned. He is just keeping a seat warm for Kubica. He might have an end-of-career rebirth like Webber, but like Webber he will never (IMHO) be a top-line #1 driver. Certainly not WDC material, and that is what a top-tier team wants.
Enzo Ferrari was a great man. But he was not a good man. -- Phil Hill
Due to the timing of Kubica's accident, the Renault brass had very little time to cast about for some kind of replacement. The testing started Feb 1st at Valencia, and Robert crashed Feb 6th.
So basically, Renault had to procure some kind of replacement as soon as possible. We're not talking weeks or months, we're talking about days and hours. What could you expect on such short notice?
Obviously, Renault intended for Nick to lead Petrov forward in developing him, as well as not allow Renault to backslide.
But two things have altered the landscape, the impending change in the exhaust (which will set them back) and the hopeful news that Robert may return before the end of the season. It's interesting the Renault brass are making such noise, the timing tells it all.
Sure, Nick isn't setting any records of doing anything spectacular, but he's relatively stable. This is just the usual stuff about a team wanting more out of a driver, and applying pressure.
Racing should be decided on the track, not the court room.
I agree that he is stable.
I would starting giving Senna some practice sessions now and then. Heidfeld is quick but not on the limit when he needs to be.
They should try easing senna in to replace him if senna shows that he can be better.
At this time ,only qualy fying is Nicks problem and as everyone in the paddock will admit grid position is not as important now as it was a year ago.
We can clearly see that Heidfeld still is a steady points finisher and he has already done enough to be in front of both Mercedes heros .Petrov is much improved from last year and Heidfeld needs to step up a gear or two in qualy no question but as I remember Qualy was never one of his core strengths.He´s the racer.
And for Renault:The car is was a lame duck that weekend ,and it was not petrovs or heidfelds fault at all to not be fighting for podiums.
Last edited by marcush. on 01 Jun 2011, 11:13, edited 1 time in total.
I don't think anyone thought Heidfeld would have as much impact as Kubica who is one of the more talented drivers in F1 and had a team built around him. Its not a fair comparison.
Heidfeld's job is to provide experience and get a decent number of points during Kubica's absence. Considering the difficulty Ferrari had with their stand in drivers covering for Massa, I'd say Heidfeld has done what could be expected. He's also done better than many of the doubters on here.
Last edited by Richard on 01 Jun 2011, 12:16, edited 1 time in total.
richard_leeds wrote:I don't think anyone thinks Heidfeld would have as much impact as Kubica who is one of the more talented drivers in F1 and had a team built around him. Its not a fair comparison.
Heidfeld's job is to provide experience and get a decent number of points during Kubica's absence. Considering the difficulty Ferrari had with their stand in drivers covering for Massa, I'd say Heidfeld has done what could be expected. He's also done better than many of the dounters on here.
+1
also nick tends to get the car to the end , and with the absence of testing , mileage is important
to the optimist a glass is half full ; to the pessimist a glass is half empty ; to the F1 engineer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be
Nick only has that gap because of misfortune of Petrov. But besides the points, Heidfeld just does not look as good as the Russain when it comes to Q3. He is not getting the max from the car!
Nick has always been a little so-so. Nothing is ever good with him, and when it is perfect it´s usually a podium finish max.
I think they should scrap him to be honest, let Bruno get on with it despite the lack of knowledge. He seems like a very good person mind-wise and very focused. Obciously he´s not Ayrton but still, i think he´s a solid driver nevertheless.
You forget that Kubica has not destroyed Heidfeld in a direct match head to head.He seemed to be always worse in Qualy but not when it came to points scoring
The ballance looks like: 6-10 in 2006 ,39-61 in 2007,75-60 in 2008 and 17-19 in 2009
so kubica scored 137points for BMW when Heidfeld collected 150 points in their time together ...so thats 10% better .
How did they compare in terms of qualy results ? I remember kubica always as the one a bit in front...
