Heidfeld Regrets Lost Opportunity

Nick Heidfeld was disappointed after he was unable to materialize his impressive qualifying performance in today's Austrian Grand Prix.

The Sauber driver was starting from a career-best fourth position and despite running strongly in the points in the first part of the race, Heidfeld left Austria with nothing to show for after he suffered an engine problem on lap 47 that forced him into retirement.

"I am very disappointed, of course," admitted the German. "I came into the pits later than many people expected and other drivers did their first pit stop at a similar time. So it looked quite good for us and I was sure we would have been able to score points today.

"Then the engine began to lose power and I began to drop back. It is particularly frustrating for me as I have been forced to retire in three races already this season."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was turning 36 today, completed a fruitless day for the Swiss outfit. The German could not even take the second start of the race after he was hit by a clutch problem.

"Just before the second restart I realised that I had a clutch problem and was not able to start the engine," said Frentzen. "What exactly happened must await analysis. I tried to switch to the T-car, but it was set up for Nick and we ran out of time so I was not able to start the race. That's life."