Nick Lars Heidfeld was born on 10 May 1977 and is a German professional racing driver.
57 Facts About Nick Heidfeld
2.
Nick Heidfeld currently holds two Formula One records; most podium finishes without a Grand Prix win, and the most second-place finishes without a win.
3.
In 2011, Nick Heidfeld raced in Formula One for the Renault team as a replacement for the injured Robert Kubica, his former BMW Sauber teammate, before being replaced by Bruno Senna.
4.
Nick Heidfeld was born in Monchengladbach, West Germany on 10 May 1977, and began racing karts at the age of 11 in 1988.
5.
Nick Heidfeld entered the end of the season Macau Grand Prix and won the first heat of the race, attracting the attention of compatriot Norbert Haug, who later signed him up for the West Competition team.
6.
Nick Heidfeld finished the race ninth and out of the points, losing the championship by seven points to Juan Pablo Montoya.
7.
Nick Heidfeld was a member of the Mercedes squad that raced at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the team withdrew after the Mercedes-Benz CLR back-flipped on the Mulsanne Straight while Mark Webber and Peter Dumbreck were driving.
8.
Nick Heidfeld was signed as a race driver for the Prost Grand Prix F1 team for the 2000 season, alongside Formula One veteran Jean Alesi.
9.
Nick Heidfeld struggled with his new car and suffered a string of retirements, as well as colliding with his teammate on more than one occasion.
10.
Nick Heidfeld departed Prost at the end of that season, before signing a three-year contract with Sauber for 2001.
11.
Nick Heidfeld was partnered with then rookie driver Kimi Raikkonen.
12.
Nick Heidfeld scored his first podium with a third-place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
13.
However, the McLaren seat went to Raikkonen, and Nick Heidfeld stayed with Sauber for 2002 and 2003, where he racked up a number of points finishes.
14.
Nick Heidfeld finished seventh at the Monaco Grand Prix and eighth at the Canadian Grand Prix and finished the season with three points.
15.
At the Williams launch on 31 January 2005, it was announced that Nick Heidfeld would be the race driver for the team in 2005, replacing the McLaren-bound Juan Pablo Montoya.
16.
Nick Heidfeld performed well throughout the season, often finishing ahead of teammate Webber.
17.
At the seventh race of the 2005 season at the Nurburgring circuit, his home Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld took his first and only pole position.
18.
Nick Heidfeld missed the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix due to injuries suffered in a testing accident.
19.
Nick Heidfeld gained a contract with his then Williams' engine supplier, BMW, when they bought the Sauber team and entered Formula One as BMW Sauber for the 2006 season, replacing Felipe Massa who was bound for Ferrari.
20.
Nick Heidfeld's car was launched into a quadruple barrel roll, but he and the other drivers all walked away unharmed.
21.
The Hungarian Grand Prix saw Nick Heidfeld give BMW Sauber their first podium finish and best result of the year, when he finished third, even though he had only qualified tenth on the grid.
22.
Nick Heidfeld scored three fourth places in the opening three races, a sixth in Monaco, and a second place at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he out-qualified both Ferraris, equalling his best ever Grand Prix finish.
23.
Nick Heidfeld returned to form in Hungary, qualifying second and finishing third to score his and BMW's second podium of the season.
24.
Nick Heidfeld finished fourth at the Turkish and Italian Grand Prix, and fifth in the Belgian Grand Prix.
25.
Nick Heidfeld eventually finished a career-best fifth in the championship with 61 points, outpointing Kubica by 22 points.
26.
Nick Heidfeld began the 2008 season strongly, finishing second in Australia after qualifying fifth.
27.
Nick Heidfeld got back up to sixth, setting his first ever fastest lap in the process.
28.
Nick Heidfeld finished there and this fourth gave him second in the championship.
29.
Nick Heidfeld was positioned eighth on the grid and after losing a place at the start, before gaining it back, was sitting comfortably in eighth place before a safety car situation saw the top 7 cars enter the pits in what was to soon become a bizarre series of errors that left Nick Heidfeld and Kubica battling for the top two places.
30.
Nick Heidfeld was switched to a one-stop fuel strategy and came out of his stop ahead of Kubica, but considerably heavier on fuel.
31.
Not long afterwards, Nick Heidfeld moved off the racing line allowing Kubica to make an easy pass, which then allowed the lighter BMW Sauber to build up a considerable lead on Nick Heidfeld, who was occupied with preventing Fernando Alonso, in a lighter car, from chasing Kubica.
32.
Nick Heidfeld finished the race second, solidifying his fifth-place position in the driver's points although his post-race body language suggested he was unhappy to have ceded a potential win for the benefit of the team.
33.
Nick Heidfeld had a disappointing race in France, failing to score any points.
34.
Nick Heidfeld came back strongly at the British Grand Prix, starting fifth and finishing second in the wet conditions.
35.
However, Nick Heidfeld became only the second driver to finish 18 races in a single season, after Tiago Monteiro completed the same feat with Jordan in 2005.
36.
Nick Heidfeld became the first driver to finish every single race in a season since Michael Schumacher in 2002.
37.
Nick Heidfeld began 2009 in Australia by qualifying in 11th place and finishing 10th in the race.
38.
The race was stopped due to torrential rain on the 33rd lap, when Nick Heidfeld was third, but as set out in the regulations, the result was taken at the end of the penultimate completed lap, when Nick Heidfeld had been running second.
39.
Nick Heidfeld scored a further 2 points at the Spanish Grand Prix, and finished 5th at Spa to score another 4 points.
40.
In Singapore, Nick Heidfeld's run of 41 consecutive classified finishes was brought to an end due to a collision with Force India's Adrian Sutil.
41.
Nick Heidfeld was then tipped for a seat at Sauber alongside Kamui Kobayashi but they decided to go with Pedro de la Rosa.
42.
At the Australian Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld was chosen to succeed Pedro de la Rosa as Chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.
43.
Nick Heidfeld left the position upon taking the role of Pirelli's test driver ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, and was replaced by Rubens Barrichello.
44.
Nick Heidfeld tested a Toyota TF109 car fitted with Pirelli tyres on a number of occasions in 2010, ahead of the firm's replacement of Bridgestone as the sport's sole tyre supplier in 2011.
45.
Nick Heidfeld completed three tests for Pirelli in Mugello, Paul Ricard and Jerez before being released from his duties to join Sauber, with his place being taken by Romain Grosjean.
46.
In September 2010, Nick Heidfeld returned to the Formula One grid, replacing Pedro de la Rosa at the Sauber team for the remainder of the 2010 season.
47.
On 9 February, Lotus Renault GP confirmed that Nick Heidfeld would be sharing testing duties with Bruno Senna on the Saturday and Sunday of the four-day test at Jerez, to evaluate the drivers in preparation of replacing the injured and former BMW Sauber teammate Robert Kubica, who had suffered long-term injuries to his arm and hand in a crash whilst rallying in Italy, for the 2011 season.
48.
Nick Heidfeld was confirmed as Kubica's replacement on 16 February 2011.
49.
On 10 April 2011, Nick Heidfeld finished third, after starting sixth, in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, breaking Stefan Johansson's record of 12 podiums without a win.
50.
Nick Heidfeld added another 12th place in China, before a seventh-place finish in Turkey after a close battle with teammate Petrov.
51.
Nick Heidfeld was forced to retire after his car caught fire after exiting the pit lane on lap 25 in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
52.
Nick Heidfeld was replaced by Bruno Senna ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
53.
Nick Heidfeld officially parted company with the team on 2 September 2011.
54.
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Nick Heidfeld was ranked the 23rd best Formula One driver of all time.
55.
On 1 February 2012, it was confirmed that Nick Heidfeld would join the Rebellion Racing team to contest both the Le Mans 24 Hours and selected races of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
56.
On 26 June 2014, Nick Heidfeld signed up for the inaugural season of Formula E for Venturi Grand Prix.
57.
Nick Heidfeld has an elder brother, Tim, and a younger brother, Sven, a former racing driver who is a motorsport commentator for German television.