Renault driver Nick Heidfeld’s performance in the 2011 Formula 1 season so far
Nick Heidfeld, who was the test driver of Mercedes team as well as the race driver of BMW Sauber team in 2010, was selected by Renault Formula 1 team at the start of 2011 in place of injured driver Robert Kubica.
Kubica successfully finished his first 2011 test session in Valencia. After that he suffered with a rally accident in the early days of February and because of that he was not in a condition to take part in the 2011 Formula 1 season.
The Enstone-based outfit confirmed the German with the teammate Vitaly Petrov for the ongoing season.
After the pre-season test session except Valencia testing, he participated in the 2011 F1 season in Kubica’s R31 car with hopes of giving a lot to the team during the races.
Heidfeld’s start to the ongoing season was not so good, as he was unable to race with good pace in the Australian Grand Prix. The team driver started his Grand Prix from the 18th place and after struggling a lot on the new 2011
Pirelli tyres he ended up in the 12th spot.
The German hugely impressed his team in the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix by finishing his race on the third stair of the podium. The team was surprised with Heidfeld’s performance in the Sepang race, as he gave unexpected results to them.
The lack of R31 car’s pace pushed the 34-year-old driver back on the midfield in the Chinese Grand Prix. He was at the 12th place in the final race classifications.
In the following grand prix, the Renault driver tried to close his gap from the top-runners and after struggling with his car he finished his Turkish race at the seventh position as well.
He had a poor time during the qualifying round of the Spanish Grand Prix, where he secured his 24th place for Sunday’s race. Despite the disappointing Qualifier’s results in Spain, he made improvements in terms of performance during
the race and ended up in the eighth spot.
In the Monaco GP, the German struggled with the sets of the supersoft and soft tyres by Pirelli and again came at the eighth place in the final race classifications after the Spanish race weekend.
The 2011 Canadian race weekend proved as unlucky for the driver, as he retired from the Grand Prix after completing 55 laps due to an accident.
Heidfeld had a close fight with Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Sauber-Ferrari’s Sergio Perez in the ending laps of the European Grand Prix. After starting from the ninth place on the opening grid, he finished his eighth round of the season at the tenth place.
The Valencia race results were satisfactory for the team, as he scored a single point for them following the disappointing last couple of races.
The Renault driver took part in the Silverstone race weekend with an aim of getting very close to the top-runners. Due to an unsupportive role of his car, he could not do that and finished the Grand Prix at the eighth place for the team.
He retired from the German Grand Prix due to an accident in the early stages of the race.
In the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was unable to complete his race, as his car caught a fire after 23 laps and due to that he had to retire from the race.
Recently, there was a report about Kubica that he might rejoin the F1 racetrack in the Brazil race weekend, which is scheduled to be held at the end of the season. The report also mentioned that Heidfeld will have to drop his current race seat for Kubica,
whenever he rejoins the team.
Let’s see how Heidfeld manages his next races in the ongoing season following the accident at the Hungaroring race circuit.
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