Formula One news

Heidfeld hoping for stronger run

Nick Heidfeld is looking to put the dismal memories of the Bahrain Grand Prix behind him as F1 returns to Europe this weekend. The race in the desert a fortnight ago saw both BMWs involved in a first corner collision before trailing at the rear of the field for the remainder of the afternoon.

"Well, I think the position obviously was quite poor for the team," German Heidfeld admitted in Barcelona. "We could have performed stronger from our pace but it still would have been difficult to get into the points. Unfortunately we both had to change our front nose, as we made contact with some other cars in Turn 1, but that happens a lot easier if you don't start at the front. We knew that we would struggle more and more in certain races as we did not get any major updates, as the team decided pretty early on that, rather than bringing small updates, we would provide a big package here in Barcelona."

The tactic has been proven to work in the past although team-mate Robert Kubica was quick to doubt whether the upgrades would take the team back into the top ten this weekend. "Impossible to answer that," 'Quick Nick' responded, who has not yet had a chance to live up to him nickname this season. "First of all we hope to see on the track what we have seen in simulation and the wind tunnel, then we can carry on with proper development but, as you all know, the big question is what do all the other guys bring?"

Nick is one of few men to have used the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) this year, but will not be using the device in Spain. "Well, we found out with KERS this season that it is not as big an advantage as probably people thought before the season," he said. "Some teams use it, some don't. Sometimes you put it in one race and take it out the other. Here probably it definitely would have been an advantage on the start because I think it is the longest straight until Turn 1, so it would have a big effect there. But in terms of overall lap time it is not that easy to simulate. We are still working on it and plan to have it back in the car in Istanbul (in two races' time), as well as a double diffuser."

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