Lotus Renault GP said today was about ‘evaluating’ Nick Heidfeld, but in reality the German would have had to have suffered a total disaster today for the team not to select him as Robert Kubica’s replacement.
In fact he made his appointment a formality by setting the fastest time. While as ever no one knows exactly what all the teams were up to, it wasn’t a low fuel qualifying run as he set the time at the start of a stint of several laps. As well as getting used to the car Heidfeld tried a new floor and all four Pirelli compounds.
“I really enjoyed the day,” said Heidfeld “It was fun driving the car, although it obviously takes time to get used to things when it’s your first time in a car and working with a new team. We had a good day, without too many problems, and luckily all the changes we made to the car went in the right direction and improved things, so I was able to push harder and harder. In terms of the lap times, it’s very difficult for me to compare with the other teams because we don’t know the fuel levels or what the others were doing. My first impressions of the car were positive, although there are always areas where you can improve.”
Team boss Eric Boullier added: “Today we had the chance to give Nick time in the car and we carried out a big evaluation. Our first feelings are very positive: he worked well with the team, gave good feedback and improved the car during the day. We managed to cover 86 laps and the times are encouraging, which is also thanks to Robert and Vitaly’s early feedback and the hard work of everybody in the team.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Sound like Quick Nick is back. He’s saying all the right things, so are Renault, sounds good so far.
Should be interesting to see how Nick and Vitaly perform compared to each other. Vitaly must be licking his lips. But Nick is the cagey veteran.
Despite all of the facts, I just can’t get that excited about nicks return to f1.
I would like senna to get the job, but nick is a shoe in isn’t he.
Did a great job today though.
Adam
From what I could see he was very consistent on laptimes?
Just waiting for him to say it’s a dream to drive for Total and the deal is sealed!
Common sense says they will go with NH over BS. VP stuck the car in scenery far too many times last year to risk running two unproven drivers. Whilst NH seems a little cold and boring from a PR perspective, he can sure get the job done in the car.
Nick was the obvious choice. A rookie or second-year driver won’t be able to provide enough good feedback to develop the car and Kimi was never an option for several reasons.
It is good to see that Quick Nick seems to have gotten a good feel for the car already and I hope he can keep it up throughout the season. If Robert does make it back before the end of the year, maybe they’ll leave Heidfeld in and bench Petrov. As a crappy driver with a dish rag personality, he has nothing going for him other than whatever sponsor money he brings.