Heidfeld sure qualifying problems are over

The BMW driver has been overshadowed by teammate Robert Kubica for much of this season. But following a test at Barcelona prior to the French Grand Prix designed specifically to focus on the tyre-heating issues that had hurt the German's form, Heidfeld's qualifying pace has improved.

And after matching Kubica for pace on light-fuel in France and Britain, Heidfeld believes he has solved the problem.

"I am very happy with fifth," he said. "In Magny-Cours I thought qualifying was okay, I was only 0.06s behind Robert there. But of course that was only one race, so I was not sure if it was an upwards trend. But here it is the second time that it looked good and I am satisfied.

"In Q1 on the first outing I was quicker than him; in the second qualifying I was 0.02s behind, and there was big oversteer in the last corner. So I am happy with that. And Q3, fifth position, that's the best position I have had for a while.

"I have a feeling that my fuel load is not that bad either, so I am pretty happy."

Heidfeld is still not sure exactly what the key factor in his loss of qualifying pace was, and added that a significant amount of work both from him and the team had gone into uncovering the issue.

"Barcelona was very important, but there was a lot of work and thinking being done over the last weeks and months, and it's difficult to say that this or that was the most important thing," he said. "There was a lot of small things that changed, even from yesterday to today, because yesterday I was not happy with the car at all.

"I thought, 'why is it not working'. But it is better now and we have made some small adjustments in the right direction, and on Saturday it was quite good."

Heidfeld was also encouraged by BMW's overall pace in qualifying and hoped that this would have an impact in the race at Silverstone.

"I think France was hopefully a one-off," he said. "But I think that performances have shifted a bit. Red Bull looks strong, and now that Toro Rosso has the new car they also look quite good at times.

"I was only surprised about the Ferraris not being that strong - in Q2 they were behind both of our BMWs, and in Q3 I had Massa behind. He is probably on a high fuel load, being ninth, but still I expected them to fight for pole here and that was not the case."