Oh come on - Spa 2008 was pure luck - he did not deserve 2nd place. Malaysia 09 was complete luck and he got even luckier that they gifted him that podium because when the race was called, he went off track and was parked in the grass.

As for 2007 people seem to forget how many mechanical failures kubica had not to mention he never finished canada, never raced in the USGP, was leading the Chinese GP setting the fastest lap times and was fueled to the end when his gearbox blew. He probably would have taken BMW's maiden victory if not for yet another mechanical failure. Heidfeld as far as I'm concerned didn't beat kubica on merit in 2007 and he got demolished in 2008. Singapore was the first race heidfeld didn't get to finish in a good long while - Kubica has retired from 4 races already this season. Heidfeld has been weighed, measured and found wanting. he is a #2 driver who is fast but not fast enough. F1 teams realize this and that is why Kubica has a seat next year and nick doesn't.

Then you are clearly not following Nick's career at all.

Lets look at the facts here.

2001 Brazilian GP, 3rd: Finished behind Schumacher and Coulthard. and ahead of a BAR, Toyota and Benetton

2005 Malaysian GP, 3rd: Quick all weekend, podium on merit

2005 Monaco GP, 2nd: Drove a stunning tactical race and looked after his tyres. Pulled off a crucial overtake on Alonso

2005 European GP, 2nd: Started from pole and was quick all day. Only two retirements in this race and all the major players finished.

2006 Hungarian GP, 3rd: Kept his head in poor conditions, made crucial overtakes, especially on Michael Schumacher

2007 Canadian GP, 2nd: Qualified second, held this position at the start, and finished there.

2007 Hungarian GP, 3rd: Qualified third and finished third, behind a McLaren and a Ferrari and ahead of a bunch of fast cars. Not much luck there.

2008 Australian GP, 2nd: Qualified fifth and finished second. Lots of cars DNFed, but Nick was ahead of them anyway.

2008 Canadian GP, 2nd: Great race from 8th on the grid. Sure, there was attrition, but that's racing. This was Nick's best chance to win a GP but he played the team game and didn't hold up Kubica.

2008 British GP, 2nd: One of Nick's greatest races. Made two crucial double overtakes.

2008 Belgian GP, 2nd: You call this luck, I call this incredible foresight. Nick was the only driver who had the balls to overrule his team and come in for a tyre change right at the end of the race. He still had to deliver on that final lap and did, overtaking heaps of cars. A very good example of Nick's excellent racecraft.

2009 Malaysian GP, 2nd: Sure, there's luck involved in this. But so what, Nick kept it together.



So out of Nick's 11 podiums I'd say only one was lucky.

You'd have to say he's incredibly UNlucky not to have won a race.

Almost all his runner up positions have been behind a very strong driver.

So judging this list clearly shows Nick's podiums are mostly helped by other's mistakes and mechanical failures, rain, and safety car. On merit he was 3rd in Europe 2005, 2nd in Canada 2007, 3rd in Hungary 2007, 3rd in Australia 2008, 3rd in Britain 2008.

One second and four thirds. Not a stellar list I say.

Are you some jealous Kubica fan?

Heidfeld might not have the raw speed of Kubica he sure is a lot more consistent. Raw speed is not the only quality of a F1 driver, the ability to avoid chaos and not making mistakes are qualities too and Heidfeld nails those two.

A lot of podiums are earned by other people making mistakes but Heidfeld did not make those mistakes and therefor the podiums are very much well earned by Heidfeld.

Saying his podiums are undesirved is the same as saying Vettel's win in Suzuka last week was undesirved because "Vettel was just fast, he's not consistent over the whole season."

Vettel led the whole race, and started from pole. How can you compare that to some lucky podiums?

Nick is probably the highest underrated driver on the grid.

Oh come on - Spa 2008 was pure luck - he did not deserve 2nd place. Malaysia 09 was complete luck and he got even luckier that they gifted him that podium because when the race was called, he went off track and was parked in the grass. As for 2007 people seem to forget how many mechanical failures kubica had not to mention he never finished canada, never raced in the USGP, was leading the Chinese GP setting the fastest lap times and was fueled to the end when his gearbox blew. He probably would have taken BMW's maiden victory if not for yet another mechanical failure. Heidfeld as far as I'm concerned didn't beat kubica on merit in 2007 and he got demolished in 2008. Singapore was the first race heidfeld didn't get to finish in a good long while - Kubica has retired from 4 races already this season. Heidfeld has been weighed, measured and found wanting. he is a #2 driver who is fast but not fast enough. F1 teams realize this and that is why Kubica has a seat next year and nick doesn't.

i think F1 is about winning. Nick has proven that on F1 level he is not a winner. i hope he'll be gone from F1 next year. just to make room. and not for Sato

While Heidfeld may not have as much 'raw pace' as Kubica, he seems to make it up on 'racecraft'.

If you want to compare drivers based on raw pace, how come nobody mentioned Trulli?

If you want to compare drivers based on raw pace, how come nobody mentioned Trulli?

Nick has heaps of options, he'll be fine.

not interested in neverending heidfeld/kubica, heidfeld/webber, heidfeld/kimi threads, sick and tired of them.

it was your nickname that woke me up...

Definitely, he is not a probably WDC.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news...013102016.shtml

Heidfeld for Auto Motor und Sport:
"In terms of the public perception, I am behind drivers who are not as good as me"

Poor Nick, "not as good as me" - What a modesty!

well, he has beaten a few of them when they were teammates, it's not that arrogant of him to come to the conclusion he's better than them, is it?

He's definitely as good as Kubica.

I think it says enough that Brawn once considered Nick for a drive and has commented on Nicks driving more than once.

He wasn't tested at the very top though and he might fail like Fisi.

Unfortunately for Trulli F1 races are longer than 1 lap. His quali pace was the best in the business - his race pace is garbage, hence the term "trulli train"

Heidfeld deserves a decent seat, his problem is he seems quiet, almost the invisible good driver in F1.

The problem is radicalism. Both extremes are incorrect. To say that Heidfeld is fabolous or garbage. I think Heidfeld deserves to keep a good seat in F1, but to hear people saying stuff like he beat team mates such as Kimi and Massa etc...

So being a rookie means nothing for the people who says this? is just an 'excuse'? that is why you get extreme responses with Heidfeld bashers. Heidfeld has shown throughout his almost '10 year f1 career, to be a steady good driver.

I am not going to put him in the same category as a Barrichello, Coulthard yet. Because these drivers specially Barrichello as I recall demonstrated outstanding perfomence in ok cars. Such as what Rubens did with Stewart and Jordan. And what Coulthard did at Mclaren before it hit big.

in 2007, he beat Kubica, (best position 2nd, compared to RK's 4th), and ended up with over twice as many points.

No, Nick isn't in the same catagory as DC or RB. He is much better. In 2005, he beat Mark Webber, (best of 2nd compared to 3rd and more points) in the williams and the only one of the 2 to get pole.

In 2006, he beat former WDC JV in points and position, (though not quali). He then beat Kubica in the rest of the season.

in 2007, he beat Kubica, (best position 2nd, compared to RK's 4th), and ended up with over twice as many points.

In 2008, he got beaten by Kubica. (the first time in his career to be beaten by a team mate).

In 2009, he beat Kubica, (best position 2nd, compared to RK's 4th). Currently nearly twice as many points.

DC was beaten by every team mate he had, bar Austrian wannabe Klien. RB, had a maximum 3rd place when his team mate, (Herbert), won a race in 1999, and has had shit team mates throughout his career apart from Irvine in his "Irv the Swerve" days when he just crashed or won, Brundle in his twighlight years who matched him, De "crasheris" who beat him, Schumacher who thrashed him and Button who has also thrashed him.

Nick has beaten Alesi, Kimi, Massa, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Pantano, Glock, and Webber.

So, 2 WDC's, 1 WDC for 15 seconds, 1 guy who was hyped to be WDC if he didn't make the wrong choice of Ferrari, 2 GP2 champions and a guy who was in the title hunt this year till the last few races. (Not to mention Frentzen who thrashed WDC Hill, and beat Trulli).

Altogether, Nick's CV is more than a little bit more impressive than Rubens or David.

This is as factual as the Iraq`s election that Saddam won by 100% of the votes

Nick has beaten Alesi, Kimi, Massa, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Pantano, Glock, and Webber.

No, Nick isn't in the same catagory as DC or RB. He is much better. In 2005, he beat Mark Webber, (best of 2nd compared to 3rd and more points) in the williams and the only one of the 2 to get pole.

In 2006, he beat former WDC JV in points and position, (though not quali). He then beat Kubica in the rest of the season.

in 2007, he beat Kubica, (best position 2nd, compared to RK's 4th), and ended up with over twice as many points.

In 2008, he got beaten by Kubica. (the first time in his career to be beaten by a team mate).

In 2009, he beat Kubica, (best position 2nd, compared to RK's 4th). Currently nearly twice as many points.

DC was beaten by every team mate he had, bar Austrian wannabe Klien. RB, had a maximum 3rd place when his team mate, (Herbert), won a race in 1999, and has had shit team mates throughout his career apart from Irvine in his "Irv the Swerve" days when he just crashed or won, Brundle in his twighlight years who matched him, De "crasheris" who beat him, Schumacher who thrashed him and Button who has also thrashed him.

Nick has beaten Alesi, Kimi, Massa, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Pantano, Glock, and Webber.

So, 2 WDC's, 1 WDC for 15 seconds, 1 guy who was hyped to be WDC if he didn't make the wrong choice of Ferrari, 2 GP2 champions and a guy who was in the title hunt this year till the last few races. (Not to mention Frentzen who thrashed WDC Hill, and beat Trulli).

Altogether, Nick's CV is more than a little bit more impressive than Rubens or David.

Also, he doesn't take anyone off, almost never crashes

Or http://www.viddler.com/explore/Tarya/videos/9/