Nick Heidfeld Q&A
Sauber has shown a mild upturn in form of late, bearing in mind Bridgestone's current problems have not helped. In Hungary Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen qualified midfield, and the former finished ninth, almost within sight of Michael Schumacher. Nevertheless it's a big comedown from the last couple of seasons, when Sauber regularly picked up points. In Hungary it was revealed that Giancarlo Fisichella will drive for the team next year, and it seems that neither of the current drivers will be staying. Heidfeld has been mentioned in connection with Jordan, where his German nationality could appeal to potential sponsors, but for the moment his future is uncertain. Adam Cooper spoke to him
"That's why it's a bit of a mixed feeling. It's nice to be so close behind the Ferrari and Michael, although I guess he must have had a problem, otherwise they are in deep trouble. On the other side it's not nice being ninth, especially when you're ninth for such a long part of the race. I thought there must have been something happening in front, but unfortunately it didn't. In the end it was a very positive weekend for us, because we made huge improvements over one lap and over long distance over the race."
"It started for the last two races. We saw the improvement last time, but we couldn't see it in terms of positions. We made further improvements to the car, which seems to have a big influence. Now I'm also interested to see if it's going to be the same in the next couple of races, or of Hungary just suited our car very well."
"Aerodynamic changes first of all, I guess that's the biggest input. Also a different choice on the tyre side."
"Yeah of course. The team was pushing very hard, and our goal for the season was to be behind the big teams, which is basically what we managed in Hungary. It's nice that finally we did it."
"I made a good start, because I was on the clean side. I could have made up more positions, but in the first two corners there was a big mess. Then I fell back a bit again, but still I gained positions rather than losing. Then it was very nice being so close with the top cars. I could follow them. Sometimes they held me up, sometimes I was a little bit slower, but it was a nice feeling being in this group. In the beginning there must have been someone in the front who had a lot of graining in their tyres, and then when they got quicker and quicker I didn't manage to keep up any more."
"We're still speaking to several teams, but there's nothing fixed at the moment."
"Not really. As I say, we're speaking to several teams. Fisichella is signed, so we'll see. Especially now that the team made quite a big progress, it's quite difficult, because most of the other teams are not available. But I wouldn't put any money on me staying next year!"
"There are a few possibilities, but I can't tell you any more details right now."
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