Nick Heidfeld replaces Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber for final five races

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Nick Heidfeld will make his return to Formula 1 at the Singapore Grand Prix next week.

The German driver will take Pedro de la Rosa’s place at Sauber.

Heidfeld returns to the team he drove for from 2001-2003, and from 2006 to 2009 when it was owned by BMW. He has made a total of 120 race appearances for them.

In a statement released by the team Peter Sauber said:

It was a hard decision for me to make as a team principal and I want to thank Pedro for his professionalism. By signing Nick we have a driver we know extremely well who will help us to further judge the comparative potential of our car.

Heidfeld, who has recently been conducting tyre testing for Pirelli, said:

I’m looking forward like crazy to having the opportunity to go racing again in a good car in Formula One from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards.

After the last months I’m even more motivated than ever. For me it is like coming home, as I raced for seven years in total for the team from Hinwil. Without doubt I will be feeling at home straight away and this should help me to familiarise myself as soon as possible with the car. I want to thank Peter Sauber for the faith he has put in me.

In 14 starts for Sauber this year de la Rosa scored six points, 15 fewer than rookie team mate Kamui Kobayashi.

But he retired from more than a third of his starts with mechanical problems, one of which struck while he was running fourth at Shanghai.

Update: Pirelli aren’t confirming whether Heidfeld will be replaced as their test driver, but said he’s “doing a great job with us also right now in Jerez”.

Read more: Nick Heidfeld biography

Image © BMW Sauber F1 Team

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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145 comments on “Nick Heidfeld replaces Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber for final five races”

  1. Great News! welcome back Nick!

  2. Nice to see Nick is back. Hope Kimi comes back for next year :)

    1. me too I still remember to watch Heidfeld and Raikkonen at Sauber 2001 and Raikkonen saying that he was expecting a top 10 qually at his maiden gp

      1. Despite the bad luck De La Rosa was never a top driver being beatten by a rookie shows that Kobayashi is good but hes not that great

        1. It shows that he’s good, but doesn’t show that he’s great – it’s far too early to tell whether he’s great, that’s a long term quality. :P

      2. Nick and Kimi at Sauber would be so sweet…

        1. Kimi would NEVER go to Sauber. 1) Not enough money. 2) Too uncompetitive. He’s not going to Renault either

    2. rumor has it that kimi has already contacted renault..

  3. I must say I’m a little surprised, but I can’t wait to hear what Prisoner Monkeys has to say ;)

    1. I am just as suprised. It might be worth the wait for PMs comments!

    2. Exactly what I said over at Adam Cooper’s blog:

      I can’t see Heidfeld as being a long-term prospect. I’ve always felt he’s highly-overrated, yet he’s developed almost a cult following. I’ve always thought it’s pretty telling that even though he’s beated just about every team mate that could be thrown at him, those team mates have moved up in the world whilst Heidfeld has remained static. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sauber take on Pastor Maldonado or Sergio Perez for 2011 and that the Sauber C30 runs a PDVSA or Telmex livery …

      1. I must say i agree on that longer term prospects with Sauber.

        It might just be, that Pedro was disappointing, Nick available for small change and willing to show something to get a drive for next year with someone and bringing some ideas for development of next years car.
        Who knows maybe even Sauber is looking at going for Mercedes engines.
        For next year i do expect Sauber to have serious look at those guys you mention.

      2. It’s pretty telling though that you agree he’s beaten almost every team-mate he had. Heidfeld is a very good driver, better than PDLR for sure. He’s not the best in the world but you proved by your own words here I think, that claiming he’s overrated is too harsh.

      3. I think Heidfeld is an asset especially to teams who want to develop their 2011 cars. I believe there might be an agreement between Sauber and Heidfeld for the latter one to stay in 2011.

        If Sauber hired Heidfeld to develop their next car, I don’t see them getting rid of him at the end of the season after he shares his knowledge about the new tires.

        1. Actually, Heidfeld has only done one or two tests of the Pirellis. He’s gathered preliminary data, which will be sent back to Pirelli, who will in turn modify their tyres accordingly. Whatever data Heidfeld has access to is useless because the final product will be so different to the one he tested. That’s why Heidfeld’s contract with pirelli is believed to have stated that he cannot be affiliated with a team in 2011, because by that time Pirelli will have finished their tyres and Heidfeld would have tested the final product. As the tyres are only in the build stage, there is no advantage gained.

          1. “That’s why Heidfeld’s contract with pirelli is believed to have stated that he cannot be affiliated with a team in 2011”

            Would that also be the case for Schumacher?

            If I were Schumi, I’d be abandoning this season, getting some track time on those Pirellis and preparing for 2011 in the best way possible.

          2. Any driver who tests the Pirellis would be unable to compete in 2011. Largely because that knowledge of the tyres could be used to construct a more competitive car. It’s not like the teams will test through the summer on Bridgestones and be given the Pirellis when they arrive in Bahrain – all of the summer tests will be done on Pirelli tyres. There’s more than enough time for Schumacher (and for every other driver on the grid) to get experience on them.

          3. There is not a chance that the Pirelli contract excluded 2011 drive. Not one.

            That is the only reason any driver would take the testing gig, to get a leg up on your 2011 race-seat rivals.

            The idea that Heidfeld would walk away from Mercedes, with question marks over Schumacher, to do anonymous donkey laps for a tyre company, and make himself unemployed for 2011 is crazy talk.

          4. This is starting to be an intereting development. I also thought, the Pirelli test job and a role as driver/tester for a team is mutually exclusive at least for 2010 and believed this to possible extend to 2011 as well.
            But Pirelli seems to be wanting to keep running Nick (http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/242614/pirelli-hoping-to-retain-heidfeld-despite-sauber-drive/) so something doesn’t fit.

            It may be that either the teams would be a lot more reluctant to let the Mercedes tester do Pirelli work (and not mind relative backmarker Sauber) or that Nicks management actually used this opportunity to get out of his Mercedes deal to get a drive at Sauber.

          5. There is not a chance that the Pirelli contract excluded 2011 drive. Not one.

            It’s more to do with being associated with a team over the summer break. Basically, any team that the Pirelli tester joined would have access to data on the tyres before the tyres were actually sent out, enabling them to build a better car. By the time the season begins, the teams will all have their tyres and will have conducted every pre-season test on them. Whatever advantage Heidfeld would have would be negated.

  4. Err, why? Seriously why? Money?

    1. maybe because nick is a better driver…

    2. Pedro did not really convince with his driving, although in Qualifying he was doing OK compared to Kobayashi and reliability did not help.

      Heidfeld knows the team, has inside knowledge of the Pirelli tyres and is only a few months out of racing. And his salary demands will look differently than half a year ago.
      Does not sound too bad a deal for Peter Sauber.

    3. Because Heidfeld of the next five races, Heidfeld knows four of them. De la Rosa only knows two.

      1. Are you having a laugh, or do you not agree with the driver change?

        1. Sorry, I’d meant to type one thing, then changed my mind and didn’t clear it properly. My point is that there are five races left on the calendar: Singapore, Suzuka, Korea, Interlagos and Abu Dhabi. Of those five, nobody knows Korea, since it’s a new race. Nick Heidfeld has raced at the other four venues, but both Singapore and Yas Island will be new territory for de la Rosa. Given that de la Rosa has only scored six of Sauber’s points and the team is just twenty adrift of Williams, there’s a good chance that Sauber can catch Sir Frank’s boys. Heidfeld’s knowledge of those circuits and his reputation for beating team-mates means that Sauber stand a better chance with him than with de la Rosa.

          1. There is a chance for Sauber to catch Williams. But I don’t see that as a big chance, as Williams have progressed quite nicely as well over the past few races and their rookie has started turning in more and more consistent performences, like for example picking up the slack in an off-weekend for Barichello. The chance for Sauber to catch up is there, but it’s a slim one imho and not really worth sacrificing a driver for unless that driver was already second choice anyway. And that’s kinda what I think of de la Rosa’s position.

          2. I actually think there is a better chance of over taking Force India than there is overtaking Williams

          3. They may have no chance at all, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try.

  5. About Kimi, I just read he has contacted Renault, imagine if Renault has a good car for 2011 and Kubica and Kimi as their drivers… Now that would be a truly formidable combination for F1!! :D

    1. I think kimi will get the renault seat. Renault will then do a deal with lotus to have petrov and have renaults engines. allowing kimi the free seat at renault.

      1. Are the driving styles of kubica and kimi similar? (understeer/oversteer). If not, I think it might be risky.

        1. At least they both like Rallying!

          But seriously i don’t see Kimi stopping with WRC now, he has learnt a lot and might just be talking about the money for next year with Citroen.
          Wouldn’t it be nice to put a bit of pressure on them by courting with their Frensh rivals then?

        2. they both like oversteer, but Kubica is a lot harder on his car

          1. Wrong. I think it’s pretty common that Kubica likes an understeery car, in a way his style has much more in common with Alonso than Kimi or Hamilton. So it could be a problem for them.

          2. Pretty common KNOWLEDGE. Sorry for the missed word.

      2. Kimi’s not coming back, he’s probably having way too much fun in WRC.

        1. BRING KIMI BACK!!

          That would be good fun, Kimi and Kubica in the same team, the engineers will never understand a word they say!

          I think its fairly realistic for Kimi to set up shop in Renault, he’ll do it for the fun of it.

          Good to see good ol Quick Nick back in the sport. He’s sort of failed to live up to his early hype but he’s a solid driver to have in a team. Mr Consistency he is, always brings the car home. It will be a good mix, the crazy no fear antics of Kobayashi with the calm and collected Heidfeld.

          De la Rosa has had a bad year, he’s been outshone by his outstanding rookie team mate, and for once, PM makes a sensible point about Nick knowing the tracks that are coming up…might workout for Peter Sauber this one.

          1. always brings the car home.

            Unless Sutil is doing a five point turn in the middle of a blind corner as happened in Singapore last year…

        2. I wouldn’t be overly surprised to see him back.

          I know he’s all about the driving, but I’m sure he misses the F1 circus (although, not the press part of it of course). The guy likes to party.

          1. The fact is none of us know if Kimi is coming back next year, or if he’ll never come back. He may well have contacted Renault, but to be honest people have been throwing various rumours about for ages now.

            As for the article matter, I love both Pedro and Nick but sadly the former has been disappointing this year, and that’s when his car has actually worked. For the hwole of the second half of the season he hasn’t seemed as into it either, especially after that article about offering to test drive for teams next year. Or at least implying.

            Heidfeld and Kobayashi though… what a likeable combo eh? =)

  6. yeah this really is good news, grats Nick!

  7. So does this mean pedro will return to his role as test driver for mclaren? And will Nick continue to test the Pirelli tyres??

    1. Or maybe they exchanged roles, Pedro is said to be an excellent test driver :-)

      1. After Pirelli stated it wanted to keep Nick yesterday, it seems they have spoken about it with him (and possibly with the teams as well) and now agreed, that this weeks Jerez test will be the end of his testing for them. see http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=49243

        That opens up the possibility of Pedro singing with Pirelli, which would be a very good deal for both.
        Pirelli gets the best tester save Schumi, who has 3/4th of a year running the fuel heavy cars and Pedro gets to drive a car and have as good a position as he can get to secure a drive for 2011.

    2. Pedro himself is still having a go at securing a drive for next year.

      And i suppose the HRT being said to like the idea is a nice prospective for him.
      http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-144705.html

      It would make sense, they take on a good driver for the development (like Klien showed after only 1 day driving, a lot of their lack of speed was in small things) and a driver for the future in Senna.

  8. Welcome back Nick. You always deserved to be racing in F1.

  9. Feel sorry for PDL. I believe he will be welcome back at McLaren for next year alongside paffet.

    Happy for Heidfield, how drole would it be, him beating Schumacher in an inferior (well, is it now?) car.

    1. I feel sorry for de la Rosa too, even if he hasn’t impressed he had a contract and I don’t like when drivers gets replaced mid-season. Having that said, I’m glad it’s Heidfeld who replaces him. I think he’s going to beat Kobayashi in the next few races.

      1. Yeah, much as I like Kobayashi I think Heidfeld will be a good revealer of where the rookie stands. Nick when properly motivated gave Kubica all he could handle, and Kamui is still learning. It should be interesting.

  10. yey! good news! HEI and KOB, good combination.

  11. Hope you have the option to play him in the F1 2010 game.

    1. Doubtful.
      Its out in 2 weeks.

    2. You won’t. The drivers have been programmed with individual AI psudeo-models (not actual AI models, but coding unique to each car designed to simulate a driver’s strengths and weaknesses, giving them personalities without needing to create a separate, complex code). Programming AI behaviour is about as difficult as it gets in video game programming, and with F1 2010 just ten days from release, there’s simply not enough time. And it’s not like Codemasters could delay the game for the sake of getting Heidfeld in there – with ten days left, the game is being mass-produced before being shipped out to distributors and then on to game stores.

      1. Indeed, most certainly no time for adding content now. But it might be nice if they added him in a later content patch, just for the sake of completeness.

      2. Maybe in a DLC ?
        BTW, I wonder if they had time to put Yamamoto in the game

        1. I believe that the game includes the original 24 drivers for the 2010 season, so that would mean Chandhok and de la Rosa, not Yamamoto and Heidfeld.

          1. De la Rosa has done more races than Heidfeld will, so it makes more sense to include him.

        2. Modeling Yamamotos spin dynamics would test even a cray supercomputer!

        3. Maybe in a DLC ?

          It has been confirmed that F1 2010 will not have downloadable content. Codemasters don’t include it in any of their games – and they’re notorious in the gaming industry for making their games difficult so to mod that nobody bothers.

          Even if they did go for DLC, there’s more important things that could be included than one driver change. Like versions of the New Delhi and Austin circuits, or historic Formula 1 cars.

          1. Or maybe the Korean track like it really will be, i.e. without the green, grandstands etc. and sporting some nice building equipment around the track!

          2. We still don’t really know what the Korean track will really be. I’d be surprised if the owners of the track do even.

      3. That’s it. I’m not buying the game. I was only gonna buy it to play Yamamoto, and now my dream has been crushed.

    3. Not only its too late but there licensing problems and programing, texture and modelling this type of changes only could made back in may cause its probably one of the first things done

  12. Fantastic News! Go Nick! PDR was a cart horse

  13. Should’ve never let him go in the first place.

    1. I agree. I think we will also have a better idea about Kobayahi’s skill level once he comes up against Quick Nick.

  14. Probably not but f1 2010 game will still be immense!!!! Just saw a new codemasters video showing singapore and abu dhabi, WOW. Go on the f1 2010 game forum now and watch it as you’ll be amazed. Singapore in the rain looks brill :) :)

  15. Poor Pedro. Heidfeld is good, but I would be surprised if he remained for 2011.

  16. It was reported yesterday that PDR was replacing Heidfeld as Pirelli tester.

    One place I saw it was http://www.onestopstrategy.com/dailyf1news/nieuw/article/12297-De+la+Rosa+to+replace+Heidfeld+as+Pirelli+tester.html

    1. But that one was only speculation before the news was made official by Sauber.

      From what Pirelli says, it wants to keep Nick for the testing – http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/242614/pirelli-hoping-to-retain-heidfeld-despite-sauber-drive/

  17. I feel sorry for pedro but great news for Heidfeld

  18. Great great news. Quick Nick is BACK!!

  19. It should be interesting to compare Kobayashi against Heidfeld and whether the car has been driven to its full potential. PDLR is essentially a rookie in terms of racing and Kobayashi is a rookie. I hope Heidfeld can immediately get up to speed at Singapore, but I expect him to be fully up to speed at Suzuka. Then again, Kobayashi didn’t need a long time to match (or best?) Trulli.

  20. Good for Nick but they’ve replaced the wrong driver, though. May be the Japanese money was the reason.

    1. The wrong driver? Kobayashi has put on some fantastic performances in what is, essentially, his rookie year. And while the car hasn’t been particularly reliable, De La Rosa hasn’t done nearly as much with the car.

    2. I would seriosly like you to explain your reasoning for that claim.

      Plus, what money?! Koba has considerably less support finance-wise than the really useless Yamamoto.Actually I don’t think he has any suport at all, unless Toyota helped him a little in the beginning?

      1. I’ve read somewhere that no sponsorship was involve when kamui join sauber. It was just merely his talent that impress peter sauber to hire him. same goes to PDLR.. no sponsorship money was brought in when he join sauber.

    3. MouseNightshirt
      15th September 2010, 8:18

      This ain’t a forum where you can post statements like that and not get called up on it – they know too much!

      However, I am wondering where Sauber is getting the money for to fund this luxury of theirs.

      1. Burger King. :)

  21. Sauber has sacked Heidfeld twice already. Amazing he is still going back that route.

    1. I suppose that’s why Nick thanked Peter so much for giving him the trust and a chance to prove his will to race in the article.

  22. Gotta feel sorry for De la Rosa, I think he has done a solid job in what has been a dog of a car for large portions of the season. Even since the arrival of James Key, the car hasnt been all that brilliant!

    Will be interesting to see what Nick can do, but I can forsee him getting two grid penalties for engine changes before the season is out, lets not forget that Nick inherits Pedro’s engine supply (or should we say, lack of!)

  23. I feel bad for Pedro de la Rosa. He surely isn’t fast as his team-mate, but I liked his personality : calm, very nice. Plus the fact that it’s been 8 years he’s been trying to find a seat…
    Even now he “respects the teams decision”. No arguing, no anger… A very good person I believe.

    1. Well, what’s his quote going to say? “Those rat b***ards – Sauber will pay a price beyond tears for his treachery, mark my words! Mark my words!

      1. Bourdais had a really bad reaction when Toro Rosso replaced him. He said first that he was disappointed by the team’s decision and then intended to go to court for abusive breach of his contract.

  24. If it is true that he replaces Nick at Perelli someone will snap him up for 2011. Old man Sauber just stole the march on everyone else grabbing hold of Nick. Sauber seldom misses a trick.

  25. If Nick is better than PDL(which he is) why did Sauber not hire him at the beginging of the season ??? He joined as a reserve driver only coz he did not get a drive. I can only guess he is bringing in much more money.

    1. No, last year Nick was almost finished with Mercedes for a drive (before Schumi got real) and by the way he wanted to have a decent salary as well as a good car.

      Sauber was in no position to give him the salary and could not promise a good car either.
      And it seems Peter Sauber honestly was not that convinced of Nick wanting to get the last drop out of the car as well.
      Now that Pedro showed to be a real disappointment, and Nick is jumping up and down to drive a car he is giving him a chance, with added Pirelli know how.

    2. Like BasCB said, he thought he was signing up for a drive with Merc, not a reserve seat, and everyone assumed the reigning constructor’s champions would only be more competitive with Merc’s funding. That didn’t turn out to be the case with the car, and Schumi snatched up his drive anyhow…

  26. I’m sorry for DLR. He never was WDC material, but this year he’s got more than his share of bad luck. And he’s a thoroughly nice guy. British audiences may be surprised to hear that in Spain there are about as many ALO-haters as ALO-supporters, but in contrast, everybody loves DLR. Maybe he’s better as a test pilot than as a race driver anyway.
    Nick Heidfeld always was a tough cookie (in his Renault WDC years. ALO had a lot more trouble trying to overtake Heidfeld than archrival Schumacher). But victory always avoided him. Maybe Nick can score a victory now, after 150+ starts (I believe that’s a record).
    And I’ll be absolutely delighted if Renault hires Kimi. I was always impressed by his zero-BS attitude. And his WDC-worth victory in Brazil 2007 is stll the highest point in my 40-year career as a F1 fan (my first day at the races was in the 1970 Spanish GP, won by my then hero, Jackie Stewart)

    1. Wow, 40 years on…
      If Nick wins his first race after > 150 starts it will indeed be a record (now held by Mark Webber, 1st victory in his 131st race). I don’t know for sure, but I guess there must be a handful of pilots who have started so may races without ever winning, anyone knows for sure?

      1. It’s a testament (as I’ve said of Webber when the same record was mentioned) of a pilot who can get the maximum out of whatever machinery he’s in. Apart from 2008, Nick’s never really been in a race-winning car, but has done what’s required; score points when available, beat your teammate, and bring the car home. Unfortunately, that means racking up quite a few races without a victory.

  27. Pedro De La Rosa – Great guy, average racing driver, brilliant test driver.

    I seem to remember a statistic near the start of the season that Pedro has only ever beaten his team mate once when both have finished.

    Good to see Nick Heidfeld back.

  28. Personally I think this can be good for de la Rosa…

    Looking at it on the flip side, Pedro is likely to get the test drive with Pirelli, so 2011 teams will look to his experience of them when considering drivers, when the teams (even Sauber) would’ve passed over him before had he stayed for the remaining 5 races.

  29. next season already turning to an interesting one than 2010
    1.new tyres on from 2011
    2.already mercedes and renault are eager to be competitive with ferrari,redbull,mclaren
    so five teams battling for constructors and 10 drivers for championship with
    1.ferrari powered by alonso and massa
    2.mclaren by hamilton and button
    3.red bull by webber and vettel
    4.mercedes by schumi and rosberg
    5.renault by kubica and kimi
    damn how nice will be to see this battle hoping that all 5 teams are covered by 0.10th of a sec in perfomance
    3. 20 races ,each having a chance to win 2

  30. I’m ecstatic! Very long shot and extremely improbable but wouldn’t it be funny and exciting if he won all five of those races and won the championship?

    1. That’s more than a long shot. Webber has over 125 points I’m afraid!…

    2. You’re a bit too excited right now, I would say! ;)

  31. 7 Germans! All new record (nothing against Germans)! Welcome back Nick, I don’t see why he didn’t drive for the team in the first 14 races.

    Also will Mercedes get a new reserve driver?

    1. Mercedes may bring Bruno Spengler as their test driver. It’s just what I guess they will do.

    2. 7 Germans!

      …and only two Brits!… oh well… we won the war :D

      1. Di Resta will probably make it three at the start of next season, though I would prefer a more international grid (three drivers from one country is fine, seven is excessive).

      2. Two Brits, and both are world champions. And only one champion (seven time, though) among Germans.
        P.S.: Great period in F1.

        1. Jarred Walmsley
          15th September 2010, 0:11

          Well, on average all the Germans and Brits are world champions then aren’t they?

          1. I doubt MSC wants to share any of his championships to anyone, even Germans.

    3. One more German and they’d make up a third of the grid…

  32. I don’t think the “Quick Nick” moniker has ever really suited him…so I shall call him Tidy Hidey!

    1. That’s a nice one, GeeMac fits very well.

  33. Now we’ll be able to evaluate Kobayashi against a driver who gets a lot of respect (not to offend De La Rosa fans). Kobayashi is certainly the best rookie of the season and the arrival of Heidfeld in the team is certainly going to help him a lot.

    1. Agreed, Kobayashi is definitely a prospect for the future… but i’d argue that Hulkenberg is starting to perform just as well as Kamui.

      1. Hülk is indeed performing well, but still nowhere near Kobi in points. Hopefully Heidfeld will be able to teach Kobi a thing or two.

  34. Glad to see Nick back but what the heck? Surely it’s in Heidfeld’s interests to stick with Pirelli for now and try and get the Renault (or even possibly Mercedes) drive off the back of it. Going back to Sauber will surely just leave him at Sauber for next year… especially if he now gets whipped by Kobi who is used to the car.

  35. SO is the majority of the work done for Pirelli then?

    1. Seeing they just announced they hope to retain him as tester, i think its far from done yet.

  36. I’ve made my thoughts on Heidfeld clear in other articles/threads, so I won’t discuss that here.

    I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see DLR pick up the Pirelli testing this year and then pop back up as McLaren test driver next year…

  37. i dont like him ;/

    1. He doesn’t like you ;)

  38. I am surprised nobody mentioned this yet, but DLR had reached the magical number of 8 engines used in the season. Going for the ninth would mean a 10 place grid penalty. With a handful of races to go, that would be a significant handicap. Thus, the replacement.

    1. No, Heidfeld will use de la Rosa’s allocation.

  39. I hope he stays clear of the vests. Really spoils his look.

    And am I the only one who thinks he looks like an older version of Haley Joel Osment? Creepy.

    1. Hah! He totally does. Weird.

  40. Does this explain why Eddie Jordan saw loads of people coming in and out of the Mercedes Motor Home at Monza?

    Was there some discussion about Heidfeld & his tyre testing etc/ releasing him from MB?

    Does this mean MS will be racing next year???

    1. Heidfeld was already released from Merc so he could test from Pirelli so his connection there is pretty much gone I think.

      Schumi likes a challenge, I think he still has the speed and he must be good for the Merc brand so I say he’s staying. However, EJ may be likened to a lunatic at times but sometimes he does get things bang on and F1 rarely makes sense and I’m usually wrong so although my head says Schumi will stay I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t. I hope he does though because I have a bet with a friend that he’ll carry on next season after she wrote him off after Malaysia…

  41. This may sound a bit odd, but I think Sauber have made a huge error signing Heidfeld now.

    They could have let Nick finish his testing duties with Pirelli, then hire him with full knowledge of how the tyres work.

    Instead, Heidfeld has a small amount of knowledge of the tyres, and De La Rosa will now probably take over Pirelli duties.

    De La Rosa just became hot property for 2011….

  42. with the cheesey pic on this article does it look like Nick is the bloke singing Chesney Hawkes in the Renault Clio advert?

  43. This is good news. But, i’m still dismayed by the direction the whole team orders situation seems to be going.

  44. De la Rosa was always a dull choice, safe pair of hands maybe and im sure he does plenty behind the scenes but thats where he should remain. Heidfeld is hardly Captain Dynamic and id have been curious to see how a Grosjean might survive without the laid back happy go lucky Alonso as team mate. But i guess Heidfeld will bring it home and probably in the top 10.

    BMW still have alot to answer for at the mess they left behind. Disgraceful really.

  45. If you thought “The Curious Tale of Jenson Button” back in 2009 was good, you are going to love the story of the underdog in Peter Sauber’s “My Nick is Quick!!”

    Coming 2011 in BBC HD.

  46. Too bad for Pedro I liked him. Hope he gest another seat.

  47. I’m disappointed that they gave Pedro the boot mid-season. He was doing a solid, if unspectacular job, and probably helping the team with development quite a bit.

    He outqualified Kamui 4 of the last 7 times, so his pace wasn’t too bad, he just had no luck in the races (China, Montreal, Hockenheim etc.)

  48. I do feel sorry for Pedro as a few results went against him, but the fact is in over 90% of the races Kamui has done a better job than him. Sauber need the points for the constructors championship as unlike other teams they don’t have any real sponsorship atm.

  49. Verry happy for nick
    also sad for pedro at the same time
    but F1 is a hard

  50. I dont like nick and consider him as boring driver, but it is very good news for sauber and f1.

  51. Finally this should have been in place for the sauber team what…15 races ago.

  52. I love the picture in the article. Makes me laugh for some reason.

    1. Heidfeld himself always makes me laugh for some weason – pawticulawy in post-wace interviews.

      I’m not being mean, here, I genuinely like the guy. He just seems… uh… genuinely likable. I’d buy him a beer.

  53. Great news both for the team & driver as he have done some recent testing with this aero package car so I think it is a good idea to replace him with Pedro who is struggling a bit at the moment. If possible the pair should continue further in 2011.

  54. [blank entry]
    [I’m getting lots of notify emails even though I unsubbed, so just trying to make it stop]

  55. I was disappointed that Heidfeld didn’t get a drive this year, so I am happy to see him back, although not necesarily at the expense of another driver. But as someone else said, F1 is a harsh world sometimes. And really, DLR was (IMO) past his prime when Sauber took him on. I did think at the time that he was not the best choice they could have made. Be interesting to see how this move pans out for 2011.

  56. Am I the only one who would love to see Seb Bourdais return to F1?

  57. I read in a newspaper today that when Sauber took over the BMW team they inherited an outstanding debt that was owed owed to Nick, and that now it has been bartered for the chance to drive in the 5 remaining races. The journalist doesn’t quote any sources for this.

    Anybody heard this?= is it believable?

    http://www.elmundo.es/blogs/deportes/aquaplaning/2010/09/15/traiciones-de-paddock.html (in Spanish, 2nd paragraph)

  58. Thats interesting news diego

  59. Heidfeld should get a point at least

  60. Let’s all agree now that after all that time away, Heidfeld will struggle to match Kamui’s pace in Singapore, ok? And potentially in Japan and possibly for the rest of the season. It won’t mean he’s washed up, got it? It will mean we’re falsely measuring him against a talented teammate who’s driven the car, what 2000? km? As far as I know, Heidfeld hasn’t done as much as a kart race this year.

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