Q & A with Nick Heidfeld

Here he explains why he thinks it is happening and how he plans to tackle the problem from Canada onwards.

Q. What is the mood like coming into the Canadian Grand Prix?

Nick Heidfeld: It is better than Sunday afternoon in Monaco - which is not too difficult! It's quite good because I've tried to analyse the problems I have at the moment with the team - working on some ideas and solutions which we will partly try out here and partly try out in testing later in the season. And I hope that will help me.

Q. What direction are you looking at?

NH: My main focus is on the tyre temperatures, and that is one of my main problems - mainly on the front but sometimes on the rear. Obviously I came to this conclusion after looking in detail at the whole season. If you look at the first two races, Australia was extremely hot this year and Malaysia was hot as usual - so the performance was okay. I had a second place, and the quickest lap in Malaysia, so up to that point I thought everything was working okay.

Then after that, if you look at the other races, conditions were quite a bit cooler than the first races and also compared to what everyone expected. That is the focus I have at the moment.

Q. Did that conclusion emerge in Monaco, or did you know beforehand?

NH: No I was quite sure about that before. Then Monaco was another confirmation.

Q. Is it a car characteristic, or is it a tyre characteristic? Some drivers seem to be struggling a bit against their teammates compared to last year?

NH: I think it is a combination of a couple of things. It seems more difficult this year, which I find not that easy to explain. You would have thought that without the systems (traction control and engine braking) it would have been easier to heat up the tyres this year - although with traction control you were using the tyres more at the peak. However, the fronts should not be that difficult. I think it is not only myself, there are other parts of the paddock where things have changed this year.

It should probably be remembered that the front tyres have changed - it is only a small change but maybe it is enough to do something. The second thing is that it might be the car, but also the clear thing is that my driving style is quite smooth. It is not the first time that I have struggled with tyre temperatures. Normally when somebody in the field has problems, I also have problems.

Q. And is it more than just being aggressive with the tyre on the warm-up laps?

NH: I think it is a combination of things. On the out laps it is something I have been analysing, and also looking to what Robert is doing - what his driving style is like. But unfortunately it is quite difficult for a driver to say: I will copy his driving style. It is normal you adapt your driving style to the car and circumstances, but you cannot just change it around.

Q. Is it a help that you actually know what the problem is?

NH: It is the first important step, yes. Now we try to turn things around as quick as possible. I don't know how long it will take, but I am pretty sure that is the main problem - and at least we know it and we can start to fix it.

Q. Can it be addressed with just set-up changes?

NH: There are a lot of ideas that we have. A big part of it is the set-up. The other factors are tyre preparation, tyre heat-up and out laps, and then maybe in the midterm - bigger changes on the car. That is what we are looking at here at the moment.

Q. Can you put much focus just on this problem here, or do you need to keep doing normal race preparation work?

NH: Both are very important. You cannot lose focus and suddenly say everything is wrong, because that is not the case. You have to focus on the things that you think might help, and so this weekend is a little different to my normal weekends because I have more problems than normal. So I try to find some solutions, but without forgetting about the weekend.

Q. Is Canada a tyre-friendly circuit? Can you see any problems heating up the tyres here?

NH: The long straights normally can make tyre heat-up difficult. It depends quite a lot on the temperatures, so I hope it will be hot.