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

[Richard]

Interesting comments from Anthony Davidson:

BBC 5 live analyst Anthony Davidson: "Nick Heidfeld has had one very good race in my opinion, in Malaysia, where he got the best out of the car. It was a Robert Kubica kind of performance, and we haven't seen that since that race. I thought we'd see more of that. But he's definitely gone off the boil and Vitaly Petrov has come to be seen as the team leader, which I've been very surprised by."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 550970.stm

[marcush.]

Drivers are drivers and they behave like drivers even when they have found a new home in the commentary booth .
It´s like Danner and Lauda talking bs about Schumacher on RTL ...They all haave reasons for talking down former competitors and may or may not have open bills with one or the other or Formula 1 per se.Not worth anything.
Heidfeld was quicker then Petrov in FP2 after not participating in FP1 on a track where petrov really was quick last year.So what? who is the team leader? Who is the better driver? If Renault thinks a proper questionmark aired by the teamboss can enhance on track performance of the drivers ..it worked...
To me this is not a productive way of working .If Boillier was not happy how Heidfeld handled the situation he should have taken him aside and talk business giving him a fixed time to show he can turn things around.After that sit together asess the situation again and take decisions.
I would have announced right from the beginning there are plans to introduce Senna and Grosjean to FP1 sessions later in the season and even give Grosjean a race or two if circumstances allow.
The idiotic casting of doubt over your drivers is not helpful for Renault or Heidfeld and shows bad style.Fits perfectly the bill of Bahar and the Genii guy having issues with Sutil...

[Donuts]

@marcush.

Read this:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/statistics/v ... mate-2010/



Vitaly Petrov was a rookie(-), he had all three practise sessions to prepare for qualifying, due to not having to evaluate new parts from the factory(+). To say that Vitaly Petrov was close to Robert Kubica in qualifying is r...

Read this:

http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/793/

What team orders are for, Nick Heidfeld was on a different strategy(look at the time differences). To say that Nick Heidfeld gave the win away to Robert Kubica is r...

You are obviously not impressed by Robert Kubica as a driver?

[marcush.]

I actually admire him for the season he drove with Renault last year tbh.

But actually Petrov beat Kubica the qualy specialist two times ,Hungary and Abu dhabi

and he was in Gerrmany ,Hungary and abu dhabi matching or excelling the lap times of Kubica .

As for this season ..i do not see any lessons for Heidfeld who did drive good races not only in Malaysia but also in spain after his car burned down in FP3 into the points ,as he did in monaco from p16 an in silverstone..
He had two accidents in races when points were well possible in Canada against Kobayashi (Schumacher having the same trouble) and at the Nurburgring with Buemi..

Maybe ,just maybe Robert could have stuck the r31 in Q3 in every race but I doubt it surely the points tally compared to Heidfeld would not be significantly more .
the much improved Petrov being the quicker driver is simply not true.

[Giblet]

Kubica was known for pushing the team and development. Renault were quite inspired last year with him as their #1, and it showed. The deflation to the team with Robert's accident is not something I think a temp replacement or a 2nd year apprentice are likely to overcome.

This is part of the intangibles that makes good drivers great.

[marcush.]

BUT would Robert have been in a position to avoid Renault getting lost in the woods?
I think it´s a bit far fetched to attribute the failure in development to Heidfeld especially when Boulier says Heidfeld is a good development driver....
I think it is mainly frustration that found it´s way to ears it does not belong to.

Kubica was really a surprise with renault last year no question .And as their chosen hero ihave no doubt he would have wrung a little bit more out of this package .But sorry no win a few extra points yes entirely possible.

[Giblet]

Not so much a failure in development, just no excellence. Thing is, we will never know what could have been, but I think its fair to say Robert would have bettered VP in most races.

Boulier has gone on record saying Robert pushed/inspired the team, I hear nothing about NH or VP in that regard.

[Mr Alcatraz]

BUT would Robert have been in a position to avoid Renault getting lost in the woods?
I think it´s a bit far fetched to attribute the failure in development to Heidfeld especially when Boulier says Heidfeld is a good development driver....
I think it is mainly frustration that found it´s way to ears it does not belong to.

Kubica was really a surprise with renault last year no question .And as their chosen hero ihave no doubt he would have wrung a little bit more out of this package .But sorry no win a few extra points yes entirely possible.

Kubica was beatified in his second or third race of his career when he took a podium with BMW power at Monza (typically Ferrari's #2 could not pass him and the legend began). I remember watching the prerace and in retrospect how eerily prophetic Alex Zanardi's words were when asked about BMW Saubers form before the race. The heroic driver whose career was ended just like Kubica’s probably has, when asked on the grid-walk about his presence at Monza (in his native country) he said he was there for his friends at BMW. When asked why he thought they were so formidable he simply stated " BMW Power Baby!!!" Now Kubica is about to be ”Canonized” , however that does not feed the Bulldog. I hope against hope he makes it back. But Robert would be nowhere with Renaults package this year IMO, except enjoying a pretty good country season. There is always room for speculation. Personally I think he would be a big difference maker but still be driving a challenger that would finish in 4th place as opposed to the fifth they will get without him.

[marcush.]

Not so much a failure in development, just no excellence. Thing is, we will never know what could have been, but I think its fair to say Robert would have bettered VP in most races.

Boulier has gone on record saying Robert pushed/inspired the team, I hear nothing about NH or VP in that regard.

the situation is clear ,Kubica is their hero ,and he slotted in perfectly with the team.
To think a retired driver who could not find a team over winter would be able to fully fill the gap would put every decision in the year before make look absurd.

Nick slotted in in the last moment and is good enough to be joint points scorer with Petzrov who is really a different man compared to 2010 (not counting Hungary and Abu Dhabi).Everyone in the team is praising him for his improvement when last year at the beginning they did not really take him seriously.

If the lotus people feel not being inspired and motivated by Heidfeld this has two sides to it.He is a temporary fill in .

apart from this Boullier has clearly denied specultions about Grosjean being in the frame for replacing Heidfeld this year he insisted he thinks Romain is ready for F1 but that is for 2012 -see Fia press conference

[PlatinumZealot]

Exactly. Heidfeld is good enough, but that is not good enough!

[ringo]

What's funny is Boulier doesn't seem too much obsessed in Kubica again.
His eyes are wandering to other drivers who could fill in next year. Kubica returning is a bonus, but it's not a do or die for renault.
Heidfeld to me is doing ok, he's never really under performed outside of his accidents.
There are reasons for his accidents and low qualifyings.

However i think he needs to work some magic if he is to say the full season.

Likewise Renault need to work some magic with the car, as you can't keep putting the blame on the drivers. When the car was podium material, the drivers took it there.

If they improve the car now, then it would be fair to question Heidfeld's motivation.
As it is now, the car is behind a force india and Sauber.
That would have been blasphemous 2 years ago.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Can't blame Nick for this one can we?

[Poleman]

I dont know if Nick is making the best out of hes chance but hes damn good at fast bailing out...

At least hes gonna live another day to try again make out the best of his third chance!

[marcush.]

So nowNick had the second time a spontaneous inflaming of the car this year...although this time the car is not even competitive enough to score points.
Renault clearly wrote off this season long time ago .pity for Heidfeld who could not know this .I wonder if they are coming back after the summer break and finally put these upgrades on the car.
as for the original question..did he make the most out of his chance? If this was a chance then I´d say yes.

[Thunder2]

LRGP really seems to be the team which is going the most backward on the grid... This year is not the year where a driver needs to be at LRGP. Everything is wrong : strategy, development, management.

We heard Morelli tell that Kubica had 50% of chances coming back to LRGP and 50% of chances to go to another team in 2012. I really hope he can manage to go elsewhere.

Nick failed his start today, ok the car burnt but don't forget he was like P17 struggling to pass Kova...