Where next for Nick Heidfeld?

In motor racing much depends on being in the right place at the right time, and for a while Nick Heidfeld got everything just right. Last September he was the obvious candidate when Peter Sauber decided that Pedro de la Rosa wasn't doing a good enough job. Then in February he was the man Renault called soon after Robert Kubica was ruled out of the 2011 season.

But what goes around comes around, and in August it was Heidfeld's turn to be on the wrong end of a management decision when Renault promoted Bruno Senna for the Belgian Grand Prix. The team claimed it was just down to performance on and off the track - any subsequent commercial advantage related to taking the Brazilian on board was a happy coincidence.

In reality Heidfeld's sudden departure went largely unremarked. Senna is a very popular guy, and no one can deny that his presence is good for F1. The consensus was that he deserved an opportunity. And it was hard to deny that Vitaly Petrov had enjoyed the upper hand over Heidfeld in qualifying.

Nevertheless, at the time of the change Heidfeld had scored two more points than the Russian, which was respectable. And in the six races since, Petrov has only been able to add four more to his personal tally, moving two points ahead of Heidfeld's score. So perhaps he didn't do such a bad job after all.

Heidfeld won't or can't say much about what happened behind the scenes in August, thanks to the agreement he made with the team when he left.

Heidfeld returned to F1 last August in place of Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber... © LAT

"I think it's obvious how I felt, but that is behind me now," he says. "Now I'm trying to do the best for the future."

It wasn't just grid positions that team boss Eric Boullier called into question, but also Heidfeld's perceived 'leadership qualities', or lack thereof. Given that there are only a very few exceptional drivers who can single-handedly drive a team on, it seemed a little unfair.

"Again there are many things I could say about it. There are things that not only you were thinking, but other people as well. But I'm not going to comment. It doesn't help."

It had all seemed so promising at the start of the year. Heidfeld was the obvious candidate to replace his old pal Kubica, and in fact he missed only the opening test with the R31 in Valencia. Team and driver soon seemed to be getting on well.

"I have to say especially in the beginning the team was very open and very helpful with everything, and I did settle in very quickly. If you look back and look at the interviews I gave then, I had a very good feeling within the team.

"It was very exciting. At the tests it was a bit mixed: most of the time it looked good; on one or two occasions it didn't look good at all; and on one occasion in Barcelona it looked fantastic! You always hope that, especially with the [forward-facing] exhaust being the only one in the field, that it might be the thing that promoted us to the front.

"Qualifying at the first race wasn't nice, and then I had a damaged car in the race. But at least Vitaly showed with a podium how good the pace was. Then at the second race in Malaysia I had a podium. So early in the season we were going quite strongly."

Indeed, Heidfeld's third place at Sepang suggested that Renault had made a great call in hiring a man so adept at bringing the car home, especially in a year where the new tyres made racing so complex.

...but was given the boot by Renault in favour of Bruno Senna this time round © LAT

The two podiums were also a reminder that this was a team that was winning races and titles just a few years ago, and knows how to run good strategies.

"I think the whole team did a good job," says Heidfeld. At some points this year they were criticised for not doing the right thing in qualifying. It's easy to say from the outside, but I think this is what partly helped us at the beginning of the year, especially in Malaysia - I didn't do many laps in qualifying, but this gave me the possibility to have fresher tyres.

"Now everybody knows that this [tactic] helps. Of course, it can be a gamble if you just do one shot in qualifying, but then you have a benefit later."

In retrospect the first outward indication that he was falling out of favour with the Enstone management came in Hungary, where Senna drove his car in the first practice session. Was that a clear sign of trouble ahead?

"Not for me, no," he insists. "I won't go into detail, but at this point for me, everything was still going smoothly.

"I think I had a good season. But it was perhaps not the best season of my career. Vitaly outqualified me; there were sometimes reasons for it, but nobody wants to hear them. And Vitaly also did a good job."

The comparison with his team-mate is ultimately what damaged Heidfeld's claim to the seat, especially when people looked back at 2010, and saw how superior Kubica usually was to the Russian rookie.

"I think Vitaly is a lot better than last year. I spent nearly four seasons against Robert, and I know pretty much how I compare to him, and everybody can have a look at the statistics. I think we were pretty evenly matched, sometimes one better than the other.

"I thought life would be a bit easier this year against Vitaly, but he's doing a much better job, not only pace-wise, but I remember last year he was spinning, crashing. It was his first year, and he made a big jump this season. He's a lot more self-confident, and that has helped him a lot as well a driver. But what matters most in the end are the points."

Heidfeld says he stacked up better against Kubica than most remember © LAT

Rather than contemplate what happened at Renault, Heidfeld prefers to look ahead. He knows that the chances of landing a 2012 seat are receding, but he hasn't given up. One of the biggest problems is that these days the midfield teams all require drivers with budgets.

"It's more difficult, firstly because a lot of seats are already taken, and it seems that money has become more important than I imagined since I've been in F1. But still, I hope teams know my qualities.

"I've been with many teams - teams that have taken me back and hired me are usually happy with what I've done. So even though I don't have a lot of money to offer, hopefully there are a lot of positives that people are looking at. We just try our best and see what happens.

"We are obviously also trying to find sponsors. We're in contact with some sponsors, but you can't really compare it to the sums that some of the other guys might bring, when it's more like the whole country!

"We're now putting our efforts to the future. On the one side a lot of the seats are already taken; on the other side a lot of the decisions are taken quite late."

Plan B could be for Heidfeld to once again be available as the obvious substitute should anyone require a driver in a hurry. But after the Renault experience, does he still have the appeal that he had last winter?

"You have to ask the other guys, but I think there are not too many people around with the knowledge and achievements I've had in F1 so far. On the other side, this season could have helped me more than it actually did!

"I'd been in F1 10 seasons before this year. You shouldn't just look at one year - hopefully people look at the overall picture."

So what are the alternatives? The logical destination for any German driver is the DTM, especially given Heidfeld's manufacturer connections. Would he be willing to make an early commitment and risk ending his F1 chances, or would it be better to head into next year as a free agent?

Heidfeld says the DTM is 'on my mind if i can't get a proper F1 drive' © LAT

"I don't know - difficult question to answer. It depends on the perspectives. DTM certainly is something on my mind if F1 doesn't work with a proper drive for next season, but I haven't clearly decided yet. Quite often it's not that black and white; quite often there are shades of grey in the middle where you have to decide what might be the best for the mid-term future.

"Of course we are in contact - I know BMW from F1, I know Mercedes and I already tested a DTM car for them, 13 years ago maybe. I was their third driver last year, so there's contact. But until now there have not been real discussions."

The other arena that is opening up for ex-F1 drivers is the World Endurance Championship. With Toyota coming next year, and Porsche also on the way, it can only expand.

"I like the idea of that. I did Le Mans before with Mercedes as well. I wasn't really interested in going there, but they supported me and they asked, so obviously I didn't say no. But then being there was fantastic; it was the best racing atmosphere I've ever seen. So since then I've wanted to do that again. And also the Nurburgring 24 Hours would interest me.

"Sportscars can go more international with the world championship, but this is not like a short-term thing, I would say. And also the fact that we've seen some major crashes at Le Mans this year is not the nicest thing. You have some fantastic cars with great downforce driving against, let's say, non-professional drivers with slower cars."

The problem is that once he's gone into another form of racing, it will be that much harder to come back to F1 in, say, 2013, should an opportunity arise. Even for younger drivers with sparkling CVs it's hard to get out of the DTM - Paul di Resta is the exception, rather than the rule.

"It's good that you mention him, because he made it, and he didn't leave a bad impression this year! I'm 34, definitely at a different stage. But I think in two years' time there might be a bigger change in F1, you never know.

"Some drivers that are quite a few years older than me may stop, and then I may have a good chance to come back. Again, F1 is such a difficult world to predict, and things happen so quickly. You just have to try to do your best, and see what happens."