Heidfeld confident of overcoming tyre issue

The German has struggled to match the pace of teammate Robert Kubica in qualifying so far this year - with detailed analysis of his performances showing that he is not warming up his tyres as much as he needs to.

And after a disastrous Monaco Grand Prix, Heidfeld is hopeful that work with his team and an altered driving style can help him begin to overcome the problems he faces.

"I've tried to analyse the problems I have at the moment with the team - working on some ideas and solutions which we will partly try out here and partly try out in testing later in the season," he said. "And I hope that will help me."

Heidfeld thinks his problems are caused by a combination of new tyre characteristics this year, the revised handling of his car and his smooth driving style - which means finding a solution is not straightforward.

He is taking encouragement, however, from the fact that he at least knows what the problem was.

"It is the first important step, yes," he said. "Now we try to turn things around as quick as possible. I don't know how long it will take, but I am pretty sure that is the main problem - and at least we know it and we can start to fix it."