Heidfeld remained at Sauber for two further seasons before moving toJordan in2004, where he scored multiple points finishes in the relatively uncompetitiveEJ14. He signed forWilliams in2005, scoring several podiums amongst his maidenpole position at theEuropean Grand Prix. Following a string of high-profile injuries, Heidfeld left Williams to re-join Sauber—now known asBMW Sauber—in2006. He scored eight podiums across four seasons with BMW Sauber, finishing a career-best fifth in theWorld Drivers' Championship in2007. BMW withdrew from the sport at the end of the2009 season, leaving Heidfeld without a seat. He replacedPedro de la Rosa at Sauber from the2010 Singapore Grand Prix onwards, and joinedRenault for his2011 campaign to substitute for an injuredRobert Kubica. Heidfeld took his final podium inMalaysia before he was replaced byBruno Senna after theHungarian Grand Prix. Heidfeld departed Formula One with one pole position, two fastest laps and 13 podiums, the latter of which remains therecord without winning a Grand Prix.
Heidfeld was born inMönchengladbach,West Germany on 10 May 1977, and began racingkarts at the age of 11 in 1988. In 1994 he moved into the GermanFormula Ford series, gaining widespread attention by winning 8 of the 9 races to take the title that season. In 1995 he won the German International Formula Ford 1800 Championship, and came second in theZetec Cup. This led to a drive in theGerman Formula Three Championship for 1996, where he finished third overall, after taking 3 wins. He entered the end of the seasonMacau Grand Prix and won the first heat of the race, attracting the attention of compatriotNorbert Haug, who later signed him up for the West Competition team.
The following year Heidfeld won the German F3 Championship for Bertram Schäfer Racing, with support from McLaren/West, including a win at theMonaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race. In 1998, he won three races and was runner-up in theInternational Formula 3000 championship, with theWest Competition team. At the final race of the season he was demoted to the back of the grid from pole position, after his team used non-compliant fuel.[1] He finished the race ninth and out of the points, losing the championship by seven points toJuan Pablo Montoya. During that season, he was also the official test driver for theMcLaren-Mercedes Formula One team. In 1999, he won the International Formula 3000 Championship. That year he also took the official track record at theGoodwood Festival of Speed which stood for 20 years.[2] He was also a member of the Mercedes squad that raced at the1999 24 Hours of Le Mans,[3] but the team withdrew after theMercedes-Benz CLR back-flipped on theMulsanne Straight whileMark Webber andPeter Dumbreck were driving.
Heidfeld was signed as a race driver for theProst Grand Prix F1 team for the2000 season, alongside Formula One veteranJean Alesi. Heidfeld struggled with his new car and suffered a string of retirements, as well as colliding with his teammate on more than one occasion.
He departed the ill-fated Prost at the end of that season, before signing a three-year contract withSauber for2001. He was partnered with then rookie driverKimi Räikkönen. Heidfeld scored his first podium with a third-place finish in theBrazilian Grand Prix. After the announcement ofMika Häkkinen's retirement, many thought that Heidfeld would replace him in the McLaren-Mercedes team,[4] as he had Mercedes backing and had outscored the much more inexperienced Räikkönen by three points over the year.[5] However, the McLaren seat went to Räikkönen, and Heidfeld stayed with Sauber for 2002 and 2003, where he racked up a number of points finishes. In2002 he outperformed another rookie teammate,Felipe Massa, but was then beaten by his more experienced fellow countryman,Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in2003.
At the end of the 2003 season, Heidfeld was replaced at the Sauber team byJordan'sGiancarlo Fisichella and looked to be without a race seat for the2004 season. However, after impressing during a series of preseason tests, it was announced that Heidfeld would race with the financially strapped Jordan team, alongside rookieGiorgio Pantano. TheEJ14 was an upgrade of the previous season's uncompetitive EJ13 and proved slow. Despite this, Heidfeld often outperformed the car, finishing ahead of more competitive vehicles. He finished seventh at theMonaco Grand Prix and eighth at theCanadian Grand Prix (after the disqualifications ofWilliams andToyota teams) and finished the season with three points.
During the winter of 2004–2005, Heidfeld tested with theWilliams team, in a 'shootout' againstAntônio Pizzonia for the second race seat alongsideMark Webber. At the Williams launch on 31 January 2005, it was announced that Heidfeld would be the race driver for the team in2005, replacing the McLaren-bound Juan Pablo Montoya.[6]
He performed well throughout the season, often finishing ahead of teammate Webber. At the seventh race of the 2005 season at theNürburgring circuit, his home Grand Prix, Heidfeld took his first and only pole position. InMonaco he finished second, which he equalled at the Nürburgring in the same season.
Heidfeld missed theItalian andBelgian Grands Prix due to injuries suffered in a testing accident. Scheduled to come back forBrazil, he was injured again when hit by amotorbike when out cycling, and therefore forced to sit out the rest of the season.
Heidfeld gained a contract with his then Williams' engine supplier,BMW, when they bought the Sauber team and entered Formula One asBMW Sauber for the2006 season, replacingFelipe Massa who was bound forFerrari and thus Nick Heidfeld returned toHinwil-based squad for the first time since2003 season but under BMW ownership.
During 2006 Heidfeld scored points several times for his new team. At Melbourne he ran as high as second until thesafety car came out. He eventually finished fourth. At Indianapolis, he was eliminated in a spectacular first lap accident which saw fellow driversScott Speed,Jenson Button,Kimi Räikkönen andJuan Pablo Montoya also go out. Heidfeld's car was launched into a quadruple barrel roll, but he and the other drivers all walked away unharmed. TheHungarian Grand Prix saw Heidfeld give BMW Sauber their first podium finish and best result of the year, when he finished third, even though he had only qualified tenth on the grid.
At the end of 2006, Heidfeld was quoted attacking the media's saturation coverage of his teammateRobert Kubica, who had scored fewer points than him.[7] This has happened two other times in the German's career; in 2001 when he was teammates with Kimi Räikkönen (whom he beat twelve points to nine) and in 2002, when he was teammates with Felipe Massa (whom he beat by seven points to four). Räikkönen and Massa later formed the 2007Ferrari driver line-up.
Heidfeld started the2007 season strongly. InBahrain, he chased down and overtook reigning world championFernando Alonso around the outside, finishing half a minute ahead of his BMW teammate Kubica. He scored three fourth places in the opening three races, a sixth inMonaco, and a second place at theCanadian Grand Prix, where he also out-qualified bothFerraris, equalling his best ever Grand Prix finish. After retiring from fifth place at Indianapolis, he was outscored by teammate Kubica at both Magny-Cours and Silverstone. At an eventfulEuropean Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Heidfeld's home circuit, where he collided with Kubica on the opening lap, he recovered and overtook Kubica on the final lap to finish sixth, despite making six pitstops during the race. Heidfeld returned to form in Hungary, qualifying second and finishing third to score his and BMW's second podium of the season. He finished fourth at theTurkish andItalian Grand Prix, and fifth in theBelgian Grand Prix. He eventually finished a career-best fifth in the championship with 61 points, outpointing Kubica by 22 points.
On 28 April 2007, Heidfeld drove three demonstration laps around the Nürburgring's legendary 14 mileNordschleife track, which made him the first driver in 31 years to pilot a current F1 car there. About 45,000 spectators attended the event, which was held after a four-hourVLN endurance race.
After several months of negotiations, BMW confirmed that Heidfeld would stay with the team for2008.[8]
Heidfeld began the 2008 season strongly, finishing second inAustralia after qualifying fifth. InMalaysia, he qualified fifth but dropped down to tenth at the first corner after being pushed wide byJarno Trulli. He got back up to sixth, also setting his first ever fastest lap in the process. InBahrain he started from sixth place but he did not gain a place at the start, but passed Trulli andHeikki Kovalainen to climb up to fourth. He finished there and this fourth gave him second in the championship.
After a few disappointing qualifying sessions and races in the following weeks (after which the German press started to call him "Leidfeld", with "Leid" meaning "misery" in German),[9] Kubica and Heidfeld made BMW Sauber history by securing the third-year team's first victory, and first one-two finish respectively inCanada. Heidfeld was positioned eighth on the grid and after losing a place at the start, before gaining it back, was sitting comfortably in eighth place once again before a safety car situation saw the top 7 cars enter the pits in what was to soon become a bizarre series of errors that left Heidfeld and Kubica battling for the top two places. Heidfeld was switched to a one-stop fuel strategy and came out of his stop ahead of Kubica, but considerably heavier on fuel. Not long afterwards, Heidfeld moved off the racing line allowing Kubica to make an easy pass, which then allowed the lighter BMW Sauber to build up a considerable lead on Heidfeld, who was occupied with preventingFernando Alonso, also in a lighter car, from chasing Kubica. The gap built by Kubica allowed him to rejoin the race comfortably in the lead after his final pitstop with no threats behind him. Heidfeld finished the race second, solidifying his fifth-place position in the driver's points although his post-race body language suggested he was unhappy to have ceded a potential win for the benefit of the team. Heidfeld had a disappointing race inFrance, failing to score any points. He came back strongly at theBritish Grand Prix, starting fifth and finishing second in the wet conditions. Another strong performance, where he set the fastest lap of the race for the second time this season, was his home grand prix at theHockenheimring showed that, for the time being, he had reversed the performance deficit to his teammate. Another second-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix, followed by 5th and 6th-place finishes in Italy and Singapore respectively put him just one point behind current World Champion Kimi Räikkönen with just three races remaining.
It was confirmed on 6 October that both Heidfeld and teammateKubica would remain at the BMW Sauber team for the2009 season.[10]
In the last three races Heidfeld scored four points, ending in sixth place in the standings after being passed by Fernando Alonso at the last round of the season. However, Heidfeld became only the second driver to finish 18 races in a single season, afterTiago Monteiro completed the same feat withJordan in 2005. Heidfeld also became the first driver to finish every single race in a season sinceMichael Schumacher in 2002.
Heidfeld began2009 inAustralia by qualifying in 11th place and finishing 10th in the race. At theMalaysian Grand Prix, Heidfeld again qualified in 11th, but started 10th asSebastian Vettel was issued a 10 place drop (for an incident caused in Australia with Heidfeld's teammate Kubica). The race was stopped due to torrential rain on the 33rd lap, when Heidfeld was third, but as set out in the regulations, the result was taken at the end of the penultimate completed lap, when Heidfeld had been running second.[11] Because less than 75% of the race distance had been covered, the drivers only received half points. He scored a further 2 points at theSpanish Grand Prix, and finished 5th atSpa to score another 4 points. A seventh-place finish atMonza added a further 2 points to his 2009 tally. Nevertheless, four points-scoring finishes in the final six races secured him thirteenth position in the Drivers' Championship, two points ahead of Kubica.
InSingapore, Heidfeld's run of 41 consecutive classified finishes was brought to an end due to a collision withForce India'sAdrian Sutil.
Following BMW's decision to withdraw from the sport at the end of the 2009 season, Heidfeld's future in Formula One was uncertain.[12] It was mentioned that he was considered to drive forMercedes GP alongside fellow GermanNico Rosberg but the team signed another German inMichael Schumacher instead. McLaren was also a potential destination however these negotiations came to nothing as well. Heidfeld was then tipped for a seat atSauber alongsideKamui Kobayashi but they decided to go withPedro de la Rosa.[citation needed] Heidfeld was then in the running for aRenault seat alongside fellowBMW Sauber refugeeRobert Kubica,[citation needed] but on 4 February, Heidfeld was confirmed as the test and reserve driver for Mercedes.[13]
In August 2010, with Heidfeld not yet having driven theMercedes MGP W01 car, the team released him from his contract so that he could become thePirelli tyre company's test driver. Heidfeld tested aToyota TF109 car fitted with Pirelli tyres on a number of occasions in 2010, ahead of the firm's replacement ofBridgestone as the sport's sole tyre supplier in2011.[16] Heidfeld completed three tests for Pirelli inMugello,Paul Ricard andJerez before being released from his duties to join Sauber, with his place being taken byRomain Grosjean.[17]
In September 2010, Heidfeld returned to the Formula One grid, replacingPedro de la Rosa at theSauber team for the remainder of the2010 season. This marked his third spell with them.[18] On 4 October 2010, Sauber confirmed their driver line-up for2011 asKamui Kobayashi andSergio Pérez,[19] seemingly leaving Heidfeld without a drive for 2011, before replacingRobert Kubica atRenault, who was injured in a rally accident on 6 February 2011.
On 9 February,Lotus Renault GP confirmed that Heidfeld would be sharing testing duties withBruno Senna on the Saturday and Sunday of the four-day test atJerez, to evaluate the drivers in preparation of replacing the injured and formerBMW Sauber teammateRobert Kubica, who had suffered long-term injuries to his arm and hand in a crash whilst rallying in Italy, for the2011 season.[20] On the Saturday, Heidfeld set the quickest time of the day, stating that he enjoyed his day's running – 86 laps – with the team, and had fun driving the car.[21] Heidfeld was confirmed as Kubica's replacement on 16 February 2011.[22] In Australia, the first race of the season following the cancellation of theBahrain Grand Prix, Heidfeld qualified 18th and ended 12th after suffering significant damage to his car due to another competitor driving into him at the start of race. On 10 April 2011, Heidfeld finished third, after starting sixth, in theMalaysian Grand Prix atSepang, breakingStefan Johansson's record of 12 podiums without a win. He added another 12th place inChina, before a seventh-place finish inTurkey after a close battle with teammate Petrov. Two eighth places inSpain andMonaco were followed by a retirement at theCanadian Grand Prix, after running into the back ofKamui Kobayashi and causing damage to his front wing, which broke under acceleration and collapsed under the car. He was forced to retire after his car caught fire after exiting the pit lane on lap 25 in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Heidfeld was replaced byBruno Senna ahead of theBelgian Grand Prix.[23] Heidfeld officially parted company with the team on 2 September 2011.[24]
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Heidfeld was ranked the 23rd best Formula One driver of all time.[25]
On 1 February 2012, it was confirmed that Heidfeld would join theRebellion Racing team to contest both theLe Mans 24 Hours and selected races of theFIA World Endurance Championship.[26] In addition to Le Mans, he also raced at theSebring 12 Hours andSpa 6 Hours, sharing aLola-ToyotaLMP1 car with teammatesNeel Jani andNicolas Prost. The car finished 32nd overall and seventh in class atSebring after encountering problems, before leading home a Rebellion one-two in the unofficial privateer class atSpa, finishing fifth overall behind the four worksAudis. At Le Mans, Heidfeld and his teammates went one better by finishing fourth, splitting the Audis after a fast and problem-free run.
On 26 June 2014, Heidfeld signed up for the inaugural season ofFormula E forVenturi Grand Prix.[27] In the first race at the2014 Beijing ePrix, he had a spectacular accident at the final corner on the final lap withe.Dams Renault driverNicolas Prost whilst fighting for the lead. Prost later accepted the blame for the accident.[28] At the2014 Putrajaya ePrix, he retired from the race after a collision this time withFranck Montagny but to add insult to injury, he was excluded from the 19th position finish for changing his car outside the permitted area during his pit stop, meaning he cannot count the race as a round where he drops a score.[29]
Heidfeld lives inStäfa,Switzerland with his fiancée, daughter (born 2005), and sons (born 2007, 2010).[30][31] He has an elder brother, Tim, and a younger brother,Sven, a former racing driver who is now a motorsport commentator for German television.
His nickname to Formula One fans is "Quick Nick", which he got while driving forWilliams in2005.
† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance. ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.