F1 Fanatic

What I mean to say is that simply doing better than your team mate doesn’t make a huge impression unless you absolutely humiliate him. What distinguishes an exceptional driver from a good driver is that the exceptional driver can drive beyond the capability of that car.

Vettel’s win with Toro Rosso, Hulkenbberg’s pole position, Kubica’s podium in Monaco, and Kobayashi from time to time last year are some of the examples I had in mind. I’m not sure Heidfeld had such attention grabbing moments.

he,s a journeyman, but then again theres a few of them about arn,t there!

@ Calum He didn’t beat Kubica in 2008

He may not be the fastest, but I don’t remember EVER seeing him drive badly or have any unforced errors

He has an amazing talent for getting the car home, and that needs to be commended

@Zadac: No he didnt but he did in 2007 (69 to 31 pts) and again in 2009 (19 to 17)

;)

May be cause he is quick.

I think the problem with Heidfeld is, he needs someone to push him to get the most out of the package. Renault are lucky that Petrov seems to have stepped up a step, and the added pressure of knowing Kubica will return in time helps as well.

Otherwise, why was Heidfeld only a bit better than Villeneuve. Then Kubica got into the other car, did an amazing first race and hello, Nick Heidfeld started getting better as well to beat him. Same in other cases.

A dependant, good driver, but not the guy you want to lead your team. Maybe he could replace Massa at Ferrari. Alonso is certainly to push Heidfeld to new heights as well.

I kind of like the guy as a person. And I was exited when he started racing, as I was living in his home town of Moenchengladbach at the time. But he is no championship material.

I think Heidfelds problem is basically that he is too reliable – when put to the test by another driver with an ego as large as a dachshund (ego reversed size of dog), Heidfeld would always yield and get the car home in a secondary position. I remember seeing him in a race, where Kovalainen in a McLaren came out of the pits as Heidfeld in a BMW passed the pit exit. Heidfeld didn’t hold his track, but took an outside line and allowed Kovalainen to get to the track and actually overtake him. A driver like Alonso, Hamilton or Kubica had just held his racing line through the turn, and forced Kovalainen to brake and fall in behind. This incident alone squashed my hopes of ever seeing Heidfeld as a Champion driver. He simply isn’t aggressive enough. He is never the driver to get a DNF, because of a serious prolonged infight with another driver. Not like Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Kubica, Schumacher, Webber, Petrov etc. At least I can’t remember to have seen it ever. If he gets over this mental problem, then he can get to the top of the podium in the right car, without it he needs a miracle to get there.

Is quick Nick the modern day Mika Hakkinen – it took Mika
a number of years & further years to record his first
win, were it something like mp417 that enabled him to
secure his first win then the mp418 his first title.
He has similar attributes to the Finn, just not had
the car