Interview with BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld.
“I want to keep heading in the same direction.”
Munich/Hinwil, 10th July 2008.
BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld has turned his season
around, emerging from a recent barren spell just in time for
his home race, the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring
on 20th July.
You’ve earned a lot of praise for your second
place and pair of double overtaking moves in the rain of Silverstone.
How did you pull off such a great performance?
BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld:
“It was just brilliant. Qualifying finally went well
again, and in the race everything slotted into place. The
team did everything right and I also avoided making any mistakes.
It’s always satisfying when passing moves come off;
winning a head-to-head battle fair and square is as good as
it gets. And if you can overtake two other guys in the same
move twice in the same race, the thrill is that much greater.
Especially as it was a Ferrari and a McLaren I got past on
one of those occasions.”
A lot of people complain that overtaking is impossible
in Formula One. You provide regular evidence to the contrary
– under the toughest conditions as well. How do you
decide whether to dive into a gap? Are you braver than other
drivers?
Heidfeld: “I actually find overtaking
easiest in tricky conditions. The differences between the
individual drivers are just greater in the rain. Plus, different
drivers take different lines through the corners, which naturally
helps with overtaking.”
You referred to your problems in qualifying. Are
they now behind you?
Heidfeld: “What is certain is that
our work has paid off. The team has given me tremendous support.
We conducted a complicated analysis of the situation and took
measures to enable me to make better use of the tyres for
a single hot lap. As an outsider it’s tempting to think
that all it takes to get the tyres up to optimum temperature
is a couple of burnouts. But that only heats up the contact
area of the rear tyres. It is a complex issue, and the Barcelona
test in June already produced a degree of progress. We undid
some of the good work with our poor performance overall at
Magny-Cours, but for me it was important to see that I was
back up to the same level as my team-mate in the second period
of qualifying. That was the case again at Silverstone. However,
we will not be easing off now; I’m sure that there is
a lot more we can do to further improve my performance in
qualifying.”
Have you feared for your place in the team over
recent weeks?
Heidfeld: “No, that would have been
the wrong way to approach the situation. I was concerned about
my qualifying performance. But I also knew that I hadn’t
suddenly forgotten how to drive a car and that my race speed
was still good. The critical thing for me is to get the tyres
up to temperature in qualifying.” BMW Sauber F1Team
Why do you perform so well in the wet?
Heidfeld: “I used to enjoy racing
in the rain in my karting days, and then in the various classes
up from there as well. The car slides and reacts totally differently,
and you have to do everything with much greater sensitivity
– steering, braking, accelerating. Getting to grips
with all of these factors is so much fun. However, if you
are not in the lead there is another aspect of racing in the
rain that makes things rather unpredictable: the lack of visibility.
We sit so low to the ground and the Formula One cars whip
up so much water that you can hardly see a thing in the spray
– neither the pools of water nor the other cars. You
really can’t compare it with driving on the road.”
How did your two days of testing go at Hockenheim?
Heidfeld: “We were fortunate that
the weather turned out to be better than forecast, which meant
I was able to complete more laps than I was expecting in the
dry. We tested a few new aerodynamic and mechanical components
at Hockenheim, both for the German Grand Prix specifically
and looking further ahead. That was our priority during the
test; the plan was in no way to set the fastest possible lap
times. As I cannot judge what kind of programme the other
teams were running, the lap times from the test do not tell
us all that much. However, I would have liked more time to
work out an ideal set-up for the race at Hockenheim.”
What is your plan for the German Grand Prix?
Heidfeld: “Clearly, it gives me an
extra push to go into my home GP on the back of a podium finish
in the last race. I want to keep heading in the same direction
– get a good position on the grid and do as well as
possible in the race itself. I’m really looking forward
to what is BMW’s home grand prix as well as mine personally.
Plus, Hockenheim always attracts a particularly large number
of fans from Switzerland as well, and I’m determined
to put on a great performance for them.”
|
