| NICK HEIDFELD |
| The world of F1 hasn't exactly been plain sailing for Nick these last two seasons and it's difficult not to feel just a little bit sorry for him. In 1999 he was very much the `golden boy`. Racing for McLaren in F3000 the pattern had begun to look somewhat familiar. Young, german, talented, could this be a future Schumacher being groomed for stardom. He certainly looked good, winning the 1999 F3000 season by some distance. Alas it was not to be, rather than waiting and doing another season in F3000 before graduating to F1, Nick understandably wanted to get started, taking a drive for 2000 at the ailing Prost team. It was a harsh learning curve for someone so inexperienced and he did not score a single point all season. Throughout 2001 he appears to have put the shaky start behind him, outpacing Kimi Raikkonen who quickly established himself a force to be reckoned with. Beating Kimi in equal equipment must say something about how good Nick is himself. Which is why we can't help but feel he is a little hard done by being overlooked by Ron Dennis at McLaren in favour of his younger, less experienced former teamate. Especially given that he has a history of racing for McLaren in lower formulae. We can't see Nick staying around at Sauber forever because he's too good to stay at a team that is never really likely to rise above about fourth in the table. Maybe he's a possible replacement for Rubens at Ferrari in 2003. Realistically in 2002 it's hard to imagine him doing much better than 2001, given that his score of twelve points was exceptional for the Sauber team. |