Q & A with Nick Heidfeld

Nick Heidlfed reckons, however, that the team have made enourmous progress since then, and he feels the German squad are now ready to fight for third place in the championship again.

Autosport.com heard from Heidfeld before this weekend's season opener in Australia.

Q. Where do you think you are with the BMW car now? The first test at Valencia wasn't so good, but it appears to have got better?

Nick Heidfeld: We made huge progress since the first test. For me also therefore, it is a bit more difficult to know where we are. That is simply because we have made so much progress, and the only comparison we had (against other teams) was at Barcelona. All the time before that we were quite slow, or slower.

My hope is that we are the third strongest team and with a gap that is closer to the two front teams than last year, especially at the end of last year.

Q. From what you've seen of the long run pace of other teams, do you think that you are the third quickest?

NH: Obviously I say it because I believe it is true. But on the other side, it is guessing. I just quite simply don't know what fuel levels the others run - and you know that 10 kilogrammes are three-and-a half tenths.

And that changes everything. But from what I hear, and see, and from calculation, I guess that is where we are. That is all I can say. I would be safer saying I have no clue, but that is at least what I think.

Q. Are you comfortable with how the car is to drive? Are you over the problem-solving exercise?

NH: It is a combination. Quite often if the car is easier to drive then it is quicker as well - not often, but quite regularly. That is the nature of how things are. At the beginning we made big steps, in laptimes and also in driveability, and now it is fine-tuning. But we are still not at the limit of the car. We are still making good progress, even on the last three days in Barcelona.

Q. Are you where you expected to be at this point of the season, considering the optimism from the launch?

NH: It depends from where you think. If I look back to before the launch, or the launch, yes I hoped to be that strong. If I look back to the rollout, I am very happy with where we are now.

Q. Who do you think are BMW's main rivals in this tight midfield battle?

NH: Even harder to judge than judging our own strengths. Williams look quite good from my point of view, especially early in testing like in Valencia they looked very strong. But afterwards they still looked good, but not as good as Valencia.

To me Red Bull looked quite strong, but also Toro Rosso did not look that bad. On the other side I would be surprised if they are as strong as they seem in winter testing, as they have the old car without too many modifications.

Q. Do you consider Ferrari and McLaren to be in a different league?

NH: I think they are ahead but, as I said, I hope we are closer than we were last year - especially at the end of the season. For the last couple of races we stopped development because of this year's car, and we started to fall back a little bit further. I hope we will be quite simply closer now and for the rest of the season - and come even closer for the chance to win the race.

Q. Would fifth place be a good result for you this weekend?

NH: Yes, if all the cars finish. It would be okay.

Q. Will the heat be a problem here, or in Malaysia?

NH: Next week we have Malaysia, so you have to train for the heat anyway. This heat is unexpected. I don't remember being here in Melbourne seeing those temperatures, but that is what we train for - especially in the winter time. We have the physios, a couple of training camps and we are all well prepared, so it shouldn't be an issue.