Formula One: Sauber engine is not consistent enough – Nick Heidfeld
Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld has been quite sloppy since his return to the sport as a full time driver. His teammate Kamui Kobayashi has been outperforming him since his return and Nick has not been able to prove anything. Heidfeld was the test driver of
team Mercedes before signing with Pirelli a couple of months ago. However, he was offered a spot in BMW Sauber, as the team was not satisfied with Pedro de la Rosa’s performance throughout the season and the team just could not carry on with him anymore.
Nick Heidfeld on the other hand, is performing better than Pedro as Nick scored 6 points in just 3 races while Pedro scored the exact same points in 14 races. Nick is currently in 18th place in the drivers’ standings. However, Nick has not been
able to perform up to the mark either and he claims that the reason behind his failure is his teammate Kamui Kobayashi has a better engine than his as Kamui’s engine has a better straight line speed.
Keeping in mind both of the drivers are driving in the same team, data provided by the telemetry over the speed traps often shows that Kobayashi has a faster car than Heidfeld on the straights. However, there is a possibility that Nick is having a hard time
getting used to the new Sauber car and since Kobayashi has been racing since the beginning of the 2010 season, he is used to this car and is pulling more out of it.
Nick has been out qualified by his teammate in 2 out of the 3 grand prix’s Nick participated in after abandoning his role as Pirelli’s test driver. The German is yet to finish ahead of his teammate with just 2 races remaining in the 2010 season but the German
believes that it might not be possible as Kamui’s car has a better engine than Nick’s Sauber.
“Interestingly I did always run exactly the same downforce setting as Kamui. But I might be in the worst position in regard to the engine situation. The team lost 3 of just 8 allowed engines on my car this season. To make matters worse this happened
at an early stage where the engines were pretty fresh,” said Heidfeld.
Sauber has signed Sergio Perez for the 2011 Formula 1 season as a replacement for Nick Heidfeld. Nick will have to search for a new team either way by the end of this season and it seems that his chances of racing in a good team next year are bleak. Most
of the teams are done with their signings for the 2011 season. Maybe, if Nick gets lucky somehow, there is a chance that he might sign with one of the back running teams.
Nevertheless, it seems that Nick is going to struggle in the final two races as well and will have a tough time to prove his worth.
“Therefore the remaining engines have to cover a lot of extra miles. This unfortunately leads to an engine power loss owed to the fact of having "older" engines, which is the reason for losing out on acceleration and top speeds,” Nick said while
talking about his car.
However, Nick is looking forward to the Brazilian Grand Prix as the track provided him with his first podium in the sport during his time in Sauber back in 2001. It was an unforgettable race for the German and he hopes for a similar result this weekend.
“For the last four years the championship has been decided in Interlagos, and this can happen again in 2010. In any case, the chances for another exciting race are quite high,” he added.
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