Nick Heidfeld

Although Heidfeld's year at Jordan delivered little in the way of solid results, especially compared to predecessor Giancarlo Fisichella's stunning victory in Brazil that helped relaunch his career, the former Prost and Sauber driver earned plenty of applause for his efforts in the EJ14 chassis.

He could have had a chance at Williams earlier in the summer, when the team expressed an interest in signing him up as temporary replacement for Ralf Schumacher, but those hopes were dashed when Eddie Jordan did not want to release him - because he feared that Williams were using the German in offering him no guarantees for the future.

But now Heidfeld stands on the verge of his big chance with the team - and it appears almost certain that he will have some role to play in the Grove-based outfit's 2005 campaign - even if Antonio Pizzonia beats him in the fight to be Mark Webber's team-mate.



It's a very good seat indeed . Of course Williams is a top team and it has won several championships. It has very high goals and it sets itself a very high standard. Everyone is willing to achieve that goal and also push very hard. There is a very highly motivated atmosphere.



I felt bad afterwards when it did not happen. Now I can see it could have been one of my biggest chances so far, and it was very, very close. It was very short notice that it did not work out, because I was even on my way to the factory for a seat fitting! I was really down after that, because it was so close. It really could have changed my career.



I was not nervous in a negative way, because I was very positive - like a child waiting for Christmas presents. I had been waiting for that phone call , and I knew I had a chance.



Overall I am happy with what I have done. I think I did a good job. I did not find it hard to adapt to the new car or the new tyres, which kind of surprised me a bit. I was up to speed very quickly, especially as I had not been in the car for nearly six weeks. I thought it was unfortunate it was damp in the first test, but that turned out to be a good thing because I had this dry opportunity too. It was nice to get another chance, with a few days in between , because you could think about it, and could come up with certain ideas. I adapted to the dry conditions very quickly too, but I think in dry conditions you can gain more time , with more experience of the car. I think I have to change my driving style a little still to suit the car and more importantly to suit to the tyres.



I think you can be quick with the same driving style but you can gain a bit more with a small change. That is more so in the dry than in the wet. I was on Michelins in karting, but since I have been in single-seaters, I do not remember but I think I had been on Goodyear and Bridgestone only.



Yes, it is a lot easier to drive than the Jordan. I am sure you can see that from the outside. Whenever after the race, I watched Jordan on the television I could see then that I was fighting with the steering wheel! I feel sorry for the Minardi drivers, they look even worse on TV!



Basically I have to do less work on the steering wheel . The car points in the direction I want to go. Of course it is always hard to get the last bit out of the car and in this last test I started to get to this last bit, but I am not on the limit yet. I only managed to do a set up on the car on the second day (of the dry test) to make it to my liking , because on the first day I did not have much time.



I did not try next year's spec, so I really cannot say. I hear from other drivers, especially from Rubens Barrichello about how bad it is... so I am pre-conditioned to that idea now. But we have to live with what we get , and it is same for everyone. I just have to get on with it , and learn it quicker than other guys.



It took a while after Brazil and I just waited for the phone call. I was hoping because there was a lot of rumour already in Brazil, but nothing was confirmed until much later. Then finally the telephone rang and I went to the factory twice for a seat fitting. The shell of the seat outside is carbon but inside it is foam, so one day I went there to make the base of the seat, then on the second day I did the pedal positions and other small things in the cockpit. I am okay in the cockpit and there are minute things, which may need to be adjusted more, but I am fitting in okay. At the moment I am sitting quite high in the car, because I have to move forward to reach the steering wheel as they could not change the steering column in time. But I have no problems with leg or arm room. A good thing was that when I was in the factory, about a week before the test, they gave me all the information on the buttons in the cockpit and it was like a manual. I studied it like I was at school - just like doing some homework.



Yes. I was comfortable with that. It is clear Pizzonia and I have a very good chance for this seat. I was conscious of that, but I was not nervous at all. Not even a small bit. First of all I believe in my talent, and I also when I have had a test like this before they always went well. It helped me, because I had been in this kind of circumstance before.



It does not help if you think about all these things outside the cockpit. When you are in the car, you just work with the engineers and that is all. My focus is always the same because if my mind drifts to somewhere else, then it can never be positive.



Last year it was more difficult because time was a lot longer for me, not knowing what I was going to do. At that time there was one seat available, but we were only talking. I did not have a chance to show what I could do in the car and I was feeling bad about that. This year I still don't know and I still have to wait by the phone, but I got this test so it cannot be bad.



I think you learn something each year, for sure. My goal was to do as much as I could. I think it is the same for any sportsmen, to do their maximum. It was a very difficult year, but I knew before the season that it would not be easy. I was realistic about it. Of course I hoped it would improve through the season, and in fact I was positively surprised how well it was in the first half of the season. We had lots of new parts on the car and we were close up to other teams. In fact the highlight of the year was at the Nurburgring. I just finished behind Felipe Massa in the Sauber, and we were able to fight with some cars. After that race, Sauber improved a lot so they disappeared, and we did not have any improvements any more - no testing and no new parts. The team is very capable but it did not have any money.