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

[HampusA]

True, but i still for some reason (maybe outlandish) feels like Kubica has yet to put his foot down in F1 for the people to recognize him even though the driver´s are fully aware of the excellence this guy brings to the table.

I´ll take a look at the 08 season and see who was the dominant driver in terms of Q and R.

[HampusA]

Ok got the numbers for the 08 season, half of the season BMW was a real title contender.

Qualifying,

Robert Kubica: 13
Nick Heidfeld: 5

Race,

Robert Kubica: 11
Nick Heidfeld: 7

What is interesting though is that Kubica was around 8-0 until after the Canada GP where BMW decided to stop the development of the 08 and focus on the 09.
It was after that where Heidfeld started collecting point from Kubica in the race and qualifying.

[donskar]

Ok got the numbers for the 08 season, half of the season BMW was a real title contender.

Qualifying,

Robert Kubica: 13
Nick Heidfeld: 5

Race,

Robert Kubica: 11
Nick Heidfeld: 7

What is interesting though is that Kubica was around 8-0 until after the Canada GP where BMW decided to stop the development of the 08 and focus on the 09.
It was after that where Heidfeld started collecting point from Kubica in the race and qualifying.

Perhaps Nick's problem is that we are judging him as #1, because he is replacing a #1. I'm sure Renault would have been pleasantly surprised if he had been able to fill Kubica's shoes, but they had no reason to count on it. Unless I'm suffering brain fade (a common occurence) Nick has been in F1 since the late 1990's (with Prost in 1999?). He's proven to be a steady, dependable professional, made a good living and accomplished things 99.99% of us can only dream of -- but he's never looked like a threat to be a solid #1, much less among the top 5.

[HampusA]

True, no question he´s a solid driver. I just don´t think he has the WDC spirit within him or the speed over a full season no matter the car.

Really good choice no doubt from Renault, he´s doing his job but i guess from a fan point of view you would think he would show these blitzes of sheer ecellence from time to time.
The fact that Vitaly seems to do a very good job, i think says more about Vitaly then Heidfeld.

[marcush.]

Qualy in 2006 went 5:1 in heidfelds favour..average gridposition 7.5(H) vs 9.3(K)
Qualy in 2007 went 11:5 for Heidfeld! average Gridposition 5.6(H) vs 6.4(K)
Qualy in 2008 went 13:5 for Kubica average gridposition ?
Qualy in 2009 went 10:7 for Kubica average grid position 11.6(H) vs 11.2(K)

So the perception Heidfeld lost out to Kubica in Qualy is also simply not true

the score is 28 to 29 in favour of Kubica...We are clearly wrong in our perception for whatever reason.The facts do not support it .

Fasct is :From 2008 Heidfeld has not beaten his teammamte constantly,indicating Kubica is a good qualifier.

[HampusA]

Fact is, he was 0-8 in the 08 season until BMW switched development to the next car after their 1-2 finish in Canada.

[marcush.]

I think it is telling more about Kubica frustration than Heidfeld speed...

[Thunder2]

Don't forget that Kubica was a rookie at the beginning of his BMW's career. Heidfeld wasn't.
Now things are very different at LRGP.

Look at the Monaco GP. In 2010, Kubica did an amazing job, qualy and race, even Buemi told that Kubica is the driver that has impressed him the most in Monaco. This year, Heidfeld, even though the car wasn't good, was so slow. He looked like he was afraid of the speed of his car in qualy...

Edit : It seems like Boullier isn't happy with Heidfeld right now. He told a French newspaper (L'équipe) that Kubica was able to be the leader of the team, and now, there is no leader at all.

[HampusA]

Kubica really is one of the best drivers,

Listen to this, talk about being a fighter:

"After Formula Renault, Kubica moved to the Formula Three Euro Series. However, his move was delayed by a road accident which left him with a broken arm, and titanium screws holding it together. At his delayed debut at Norisring, Kubica, driving with a plastic brace and 18 titanium bolts in his arm, won the race."

First ever F1 race (Hungary GP) he out qualified Heidfeld in Q1 and Q2 (Heidfeld never made Q3)

[woohoo]

Ok got the numbers for the 08 season, half of the season BMW was a real title contender.

Qualifying,

Robert Kubica: 13
Nick Heidfeld: 5

Race,

Robert Kubica: 11
Nick Heidfeld: 7

What is interesting though is that Kubica was around 8-0 until after the Canada GP where BMW decided to stop the development of the 08 and focus on the 09.
It was after that where Heidfeld started collecting point from Kubica in the race and qualifying.

Also, during the summer break BMW focused on giving Heidfeld help for his poor qualifying.

[HampusA]

That´s right, forgot that actually. I´m still not over the fact that they could have clinched a title that year...
The car was sublime and very competitive.

[marcush.]

you got evidence that BMW concentrated on heidfeld ? I remember Theissen for being a big fan and promotor of Kubica back then and Heidfeld very often took quite a bit of flak for his qualy speed drop ..

Still we can conclude that even if the perception is Kubica has more fire in him and is a leader or whatever he was not really more efficient at BMW in their time together.
Don´t get me wrong I´m quite unimpressed with Heidfeld unable to nail Petrov at the door in Qualy .I was sure this was not going to happen.

[HampusA]

No proof, surely it would not be to hard to find if you looked. I can´t be arsed with it though.

Regarding Heidfeld. Yea it seems it´s just a Q problem, in races he´s doing very well.
Boullier i think said something about he´s doing excellent in races but wasn´t impressed by his pace in Qualifying.

Still to Vitalys defense, i think he´s turned out to be a very good driver.
Seems tough as hell on track aswell albeight some idiotic mistakes for lack of racecraft.

[marcush.]

I remember Nick for his really good pace when driving for BMW and had forgotten that he was quite good in Qualy as well -before 2008- in that year he had unexplainable difficulty to get the most out of the tyres if i remember correctly.Maybe he has made a habit out of this and has developped a qualy weakness as most of the drivers who are long in the business.
Still I´m sure the points balance at the end of the year will be in clear favour of Nick but a win seems impossible if he cannot find a lot more speed on saturdays or uses his brain for really special strategies ´wich is a definite option this year.

[Giblet]

I fully expected Heidfeld to trounce Petrov, with the latter having a few good races and far less bad ones. I'm just not sure if it's Petrov who has come into it after his rookie year, or if Nick is having trouble getting his feet wet again.

I think another aspect is that Nicks (Robert's) engineers need to adjust to him.