Does Heidfeld deserve a third chance?

[Marcus666]

Watching some old videos on youtube with heidfeld in it and Im simply stunned by the fact that Mclaren chose Kimi over him back in 2001-2002. Of course Kimi is good, but he really deserved it. He got his justice back when BMW enlisted him but he was severly treated unfairly with the bias to Kubica back in 2008. Then in 2011, Boullier ditch him because he "haven't established his position as a leading driver in the team", when he was outpacing Petrov. So, now to the question:

Does he deserve a third chance?
If so, what team would enlist him? Force India, Mclaren?
If not, then why not?

[JeremySmith]

No...

[canamman]

2 things going against Nick to return to F1:

11 or so seasons - no wins.
36 yrs old - too close to F1 retirement age.

I think he is at the right place right now.
He gets a WEC championship - maybe an F1 look.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Third chance? He didn't deserve a second chance! And barely the PDLR drive at Sauber before that! He's finished!

FINISHED!

Same with all of the old boys who never won anything, like Trulli, Ralf and DC. Just cruising around collecting a paycheck season after season long after the fire has gone (though to be fair DC did most of his cruising in DTM). Sure they were all decent drivers before but when the fire is gone it is GONE as far as F1 is concerned. Go do sports cars if you want to keep racing, and if you just want to collect a paycheck be a PR ambassador or a commentator. Those DTM seats could be used better, I'm so happy both Ralf and DC called it quits for this year.

And Mark better pick up the pace.

[Aysedasi]

Nick is far better off in the WEC. I doubt that he still has F1 pretensions....

[m355y]

He's finished in F1, but I do agree he was treated unfairly towards the end of his F1 career. There was a race win in him, no question. He was probably on about the same level as Fisichella and Trulli, both winners - and he did well against his team-mates, Raikkonen, Massa, Webber and Kubica, all winners and top-line drivers. He arguably edged the first three and virtually matched Kubica.

He was showing well against Petrov too, scoring regular points at Renault and doing a good job when he was suddenly dropped by the team. They went on like they needed someone to lead the team, and that everything would have been totally different had Kubica been there, like he was a class above Nick. The stats say otherwise, Heidfeld probably having his best season relative to Kubica in their final season together in 2009.

It's a shame he never got a win.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by m355y

He was probably on about the same level as Fisichella and Trulli, both winners - and he did well against his team-mates, Raikkonen, Massa, Webber and Kubica, all winners and top-line drivers. He arguably edged the first three and virtually matched Kubica.

I'd say he was quite a bit better than Fisi, and considerably better than Trulli, he just never got the right car/opportunity. He was his generation's Jean Alesi in many respects. His record against his highly rated teammates was quite sublime, but he never had a race winning car. The only time one of his teammates won a race in the same car was Kubica in Montreal, when Hamilton took out Kimi and Heidfeld himself let his teammate through. Can't blame Nick when his highly rated teammates weren't winning either.

Though he may not have won any races, he did make his presence felt in the paddock with the best beard and man bag in F1 for nearly a decade. But no, he shouldn't come back. His F1 career should be behind him now.

[m355y]

I don't mean the Fisi/Trulli comparison as a bad thing though, for me both were very good too. Trulli over a single lap was as good as anyone, Fisichella up against it in a midfield car was sublime. He just never took advantage of his big chance at Renault. Maybe because the chance just came a bit late for him. In 1997 and 1998 especially, he was fantastic. Trulli had some great times in the Toyota, his first and last seasons in particular, but was too good at getting himself stuck in a rut. In terms of natural ability both had the potential to achieve so much more than they did.

Would argue that Heidfeld probably had less natural speed than either but was more consistent, a more polished racer.

[GT6]

He is unfortunately to old and to slow, plus the main reason he will not drive in F1 again is he does not bring enough cash to a team, and we all know that, for the junior teams, is the most important thing

[The Original Instag8or]

I may be biased, but I'd like to see Nick in the Indycar Series, as I long for the days when CART was full of former F1 drivers, as well as a step between GP2 (or whatever it was called back then) and F1.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

When Indycar teams other than Penske, Ganassi or Andretti actually pay their drivers he might think about it.

Rubens paid 5 Million last year to race in front of nobody at track and on Television except the 500 and then finally sense kicked in and he went to Brazilian stock cars.

WEC and Rebellion is a perfect fit for him, who knows, he may get a high-salary Porsche factory drive if he's lucky.

[Marcus666]

Originally Posted by The Original Instag8or

I may be biased, but I'd like to see Nick in the Indycar Series, as I long for the days when CART was full of former F1 drivers, as well as a step between GP2 (or whatever it was called back then) and F1.

For shure it was better with those Turbocharged V8s back in 2000-2001.
Wasn't even Auto GP cars faster than Indycars at Sonoma last year?
Dallara should have studied the Panoz DP01 before they made the DW12.
On topic now again:

Did Heidfeld deserve the Mclaren seat more than Kimi back in 2001?

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by Marcus666

Wasn't even Auto GP cars faster than Indycars at Sonoma last year?

AutoGP ran on a completely different layout.

[nobster]

Oh no please not!

[Paradise City]

There are more implausible returnees to the grid than Nick Heidfeld. He's a handy racer with a vault of good experience so it wouldn't be scandal to me if he reappeared on the grid.

It won't happen because in practical terms noone has an interest in seeing it happen.

[BSchneiderFan]

Except Nick, presumably!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Except Nick, presumably!

I doubt Nick is particularly interested in a comeback either, IMO.

[Andrew2001]

I must say, I desperately wanted to see him in a McLaren. I did like Kimi, and he did impress - but for car failures '03 and '05 were his championships. Nick was good but I don't think he had the chance to shine, like so many others. DC and Ralf had the opportunity, driving a top car, neither really took advantage of it. I did like DC (being a McLaren driver) but those 3 tenths he was shy of Mika in almost all qualifying sessions as team mates, too bad. Mika goes on to win with DC 3rd of 4th, basically sums him up.

I'd like to see Heidfeld back, but surely it is too late now?

[Paradise City]

He could play a delaRosa role with a small team. But there isn't a chance a top team would pick him up with all the youngsters surging up from the junior ranks.

I do think he could've reaped a rich harvest at McLaren. And Lotus is a funny team, whilst they are strong, it's that not stable an environment in which to settle down, IMO. He might have made more hay in a more structured and stable environment.

It's all moot now of course.

[BSchneiderFan]

I was very disappointed that Nick never got a proper chance to shine. I remember his F3000 championship year and he was incredibly impressive: quick, mature, controlled.

[chunder]

Agree with several other posters here

Heidfeld I ahve always thought of as a nearly man, but like Brundle or Herbert before he won a few, surely should ahve won races but were never quite in the right team at the right time.

Was often quicker than Kimi at Sauber, worked wonders at Renault after he went there, but was not quick enough at Williams/BMW.

I think maybe a Force India or Marussia? But would he want to get involved at that level, I am not so sure.

But would I rather have him over oa Buemi, Alguersari, Glock or someone, yes, coz he knows how big teams work and has had a magnificent schooling, maybe he is too expensive

[Gingers4Justice]

He's found himself again in the WEC.

Anyone read Mark Hughes' column in Autosport last week? Basically commenting on the weird situation where F1 drivers are racing at 90% for 90 minutes, while in endurance racing its flat out for up to 24 hours.

Nick Heidfeld is currently winning ALMS races, driving hell-for-leather in the WEC, will have an outside chance of stepping out on the podium at Le Mans and if he keeps things up, he'll have a shot with Porsche when they return to LMP1.

Don't see why he'd want to give that up for a backmarker F1 team. And that's the only sort of drive he'd get, someone like Caterham wanting his experience.

At least the WEC is proving a credible championship for drivers unlucky to miss out, as well as DTM or Indycar. At least for those drivers, and I'm talking of the Satos and the Kobayashis, you have the consolation of enjoying an event like the Indy 500 or Le Mans without the F1 levels of pressure.

F1 should really be the pinnacle, but if I were a driver in my 30s, I would really be fed up with F1 at present and I'd probably want to move to a series where I could race flat out.

Which is not how it should be. The best drivers should be racing in F1, and elsewhere from time-to-time.

[m355y]

Originally Posted by chunder

Agree with several other posters here

Heidfeld I ahve always thought of as a nearly man, but like Brundle or Herbert before he won a few, surely should ahve won races but were never quite in the right team at the right time.

Was often quicker than Kimi at Sauber, worked wonders at Renault after he went there, but was not quick enough at Williams/BMW.

I think maybe a Force India or Marussia? But would he want to get involved at that level, I am not so sure.

But would I rather have him over oa Buemi, Alguersari, Glock or someone, yes, coz he knows how big teams work and has had a magnificent schooling, maybe he is too expensive

I think he was perfectly quick enough at BMW wasn't he? The common opinion seems to be that Kubica trounced him, but in reality Nick beat him in 2007 and 2009. I thought Heidfeld was one of a few 'old guard' drivers who really shone in 2009 with the return to slicks, where in 2008 he was routinely well behind Kubica in qualifying but much closer in the races, in 2009 he actually jumped ahead of him and I thought was a real unsung hero of that year. Second in Malaysia, third on the grid at Spa.....in a difficult car.

For me it's kinda hard to pinpoint where he didn't quite do enough. By 2011 he was already coming towards the end of his career, thrown into a Renault team in disarray after Kubicas accident, and he did quite well but maybe not quite enough to convincingly stamp himself all over the team. Also maybe lost his way slightly in 2002/3, no longer the 'coming man' having been passed up by McLaren and disappearing a bit into the scenery.

Think he can count himself unlucky not to have had a better career,

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by m355y

Think he can count himself unlucky not to have had a better career,

Hmm. Sort of disagree. Although he was very good, plenty of other similarly talented drivers didn't have such a long career. I know long career doesn't equate to a good career, but his was, with plenty of podia and a plethora of high finishes in general.

[chunder]

I think though if you look back over winners in recent years.

There are a few wild card winners out there like Panis, Kovalainen, Trulli, Fisichella and maybe Heidfeld should at least ahve had one in there! Maybe Herbert you could add to, who were if not a little lucky then in the right place at the right time.

Or on the right tyres, I would certainly not class Nick under any of these guys in terms of pace or ability, so he could maybe count himself unlucky not to have a win.