Heidfeld Hoping to Get Recognition

German Nick Heidfeld hopes his impressive drive at the European Grand Prix will make the rest of the grid sit up and take notice of his talent.

Heidfeld, 25, opted to start from the pits after spinning out of the qualifying session with an engine problem but steadily made his way through the field and claimed the final point for eighth place.

"It's a big relief to have such a good race," said Heidfeld. "I hope people recognise it because it's difficult at the moment with the way our car's performing to show something. We struggled the last couple of races and it's difficult to get into the points from a normal position, so getting into the points from the pits was a big relief.

"I think the car was quite quick, otherwise it's not possible, but while right now it's really nice to have a point, in the end I still only have two points, which is nothing."

Even so, Heidfeld believes the Sauber's performance in the Nurburgring race points towards a step improvement after some difficult Grands Prix in the first half of the season. The Ferrari-powered team finished fifth in the Championship last year but they are currently lying seventh, with nine points, having been overtaken by Jordan-Ford and BAR-Honda in the table.

Jordan, however, have only scored one point since their surprise victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix so Heidfeld believes BAR are the team to chase.

"We are a lot closer to BAR then we have been for a long time, so I hope that this is a step forward and we will carry on again in Magny Cours," he said. "I think we improved the car quite a lot at the last test in Silverstone, we're just not able to see it over the weekend because Michelin was so strong and we had so many problems."