Sunday 10 June 2007

Time to snap up Heidfeld, Mario

When are BMW going to get their act together and sign up Nick Heidfeld for 2008? Its madness. How much more convincing do they need?

Yesterday’s qualifying performance from ‘quick Nick’ – he went third quickest – was absolutely sensational.

His effort in Q2 was particularly special. Having had his hot lap deleted due to cutting the final chicane the German was under serious pressure in the dying stages of the session. He could have easily settled for a conservative lap but instead hanged it all out – no more so at the final chicane where he brushed the wall on the exit – to go third quickest. Continued...

“It was all or nothing. He managed this in an impressive way,” Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber’s technical director explained.

BMW only need six more points to equal their entire 2006 total and Heidfeld has been the main points collector so far.

The threat of losing his seat to BMW’s third driver, the up and coming Sebastian Vettel, has clearly played a role in Heidfeld’s rejuvenation, but surely now is the time to secure his services for next year.

Mario Theissen, BMW Sauber’s team principle has refused to comment on Heidfeld’s future:

“This will be an internal topic for the next weeks and months. It is simply not our first priority, because I see our driver situation as steady,” he has said.

“I can assure you that if we make any decisions, we will make an announcement about it.”

Unfortunately Heidfeld is in a bit of a grim situation because he clearly wants to stay at BMW Sauber, and realistically it his most competitive option for 2008. Had there been potential interest (and space) from the other top teams he might be in a position to use this as a bargaining tool.

And you can’t help but feel Theissen is exploiting this situation somewhat by delaying the decision to renew his contract and keeping the German on his toes. He surely would have snapped his key driver up by now had there Mclaren or Ferrari expressed an interest.

After the Spanish grand prix Theissen publicly announced that no one in the team would be fired after a bodged pit stop cost Heidfeld a possible podium place. Perhaps it’s time to extend this courtesy to your own drivers, Mario.

2 comments:

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Anonymous said...

I completely agree - Heidfeld is someone to grow with.