Nick
Heidfeld

Nick Heidfeld was born in Mönchengladbach on 10 May 1977 and began karting at the age of eleven. In 1994 he won the German Formula Ford title, taking eight of the nine races. He became German Formula Three champion in 1997 and also won the Formula Three race at Monaco. In 1998 he finished second in International Formula 3000 behind Juan Pablo Montoya, and in 1999 he won the title. From 1998 he was also a test driver for McLaren.

Heidfeld made his Formula One debut for Prost at the 2000 Australian Grand Prix, alongside Jean Alesi. In 2001 he moved to Sauber and finished third in Brazil for his first podium, ending the year ahead of his new team-mate Kimi Räikkönen in the points. He stayed with Sauber until 2003. In 2004 he drove for Jordan, finishing seventh at Monaco and eighth in Canada for three points in total. He raced for Williams in 2005 and took the only pole position of his career at the European Grand Prix.

From 2006 to 2009 he drove for BMW Sauber. He was third in Hungary in 2006, which gave the team its first podium. In 2007 he finished fifth in the World Championship with 61 points, his best championship position. In 2008 he was second in Australia. At the Canadian Grand Prix his team-mate Robert Kubica took the team's first win, and Heidfeld's second place completed its first one-two finish. He finished all 18 races that year. In 2009 he ended the season thirteenth in the standings.

After BMW withdrew from the sport, Heidfeld spent 2010 first as test and reserve driver for Mercedes and then as a Pirelli test driver. From the Singapore Grand Prix he replaced Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber. In 2011 he stepped in at Renault for the injured Kubica and finished third in Malaysia, his last podium. He was replaced by Bruno Senna before the Belgian Grand Prix. In Formula One he started 183 races and stood on the podium 13 times without ever winning.

Heidfeld then raced in Formula E, first for Venturi in 2014-15 and then for Mahindra until the end of 2017-18. He also took part in six editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and won the LMP1-L class in 2014. He competed for Rebellion in the World Endurance Championship from 2012 to 2016 and was runner-up in the American Le Mans Series in 2013. In 2010 he served as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.

Source: Wikipedia, “Nick Heidfeld”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.