Nick Heidfeld

Name:

Nick Heidfeld

Born:

May 10, 1977 in Mönchengladbach, Germany

Team:

BMW Sauber

Height:

5'4"

Weight:

130 lbs.

Hobbies:

Fitness, golf, sports in general.

Previous F1 Teams:

• 2000 Prost
• 2001 - 2003 Sauber
• 2004 Jordan
• 2005 Williams
• 2006 - 2007 BMW Sauber

Victories:

0

Background:

Like other F1 racers, Nick started out in go-karts as a teenager. But he really began to have his results when he moved to cars, winning the German Formula Ford championship in 1994 and 1995. He finished third in his first season in German F3 and won the series in 1997. Similarly, in he finished second in his first season in Formula 3000 in 1998, before winning the title the following year.

His Career Thus Far:

As a young protégé of the McLaren Mercedes team in the lower formulas Nick looked like he had made all the right moves. His road to Formula 1 appeared to be paved with luck, skill and privilege. Even when he joined his first team, Prost, in 2000, it was little more than a formality, a way for him to gain experience, before joining a top team - notably, McLaren.

But after a year with Prost, where he scored no points, Nick joined Sauber, alongside Kimi Raikkonen, in his first year in the sport. The young Finn came with an excellent reputation, despite having raced in only 23 car races before F1. In that first year, Nick finished the series in eighth position, with 12 points, while Raikkonen finished tenth, with nine points. Despite these results McLaren Mercedes hired Raikkonen for the following year, and Nick's dream of joining the top team that had supported him was all but gone.

The Fight Back:

Some drivers might have crumbled under the setback, but Nick stayed on another two years at Sauber. Just as it looked like his career was finished, he then joined Jordan in 2004, but scored only three points at the struggling team. Then the other German car manufacturer saw in him something that Mercedes missed and Nick joined the Williams team in 2005, when it was powered by BMW. Despite finishing 11th and with 28 points to his teammate Mark Webber's 10th and 36 points, BMW chose to take Nick with them when they bought the Sauber team and started out as a full manufacturer team in 2006.

Character:

Nick is often criticized for being a colorless, businesslike driver without much personality. But he has scored points in every season except his first, and the battles that he faced once he was in Formula 1 attest to his strength of character. Nick is an intelligent, cool operator who does not get discouraged easily. In short, he is the kind of solid racer a team needs in at least one of its two drivers. Even so, Nick has sometimes shown the need to have a fast teammate to push him to his best level, and this year he will have that in Robert Kubica, who replaced Jacques Villeneuve at the team in the second half of last season.