Nick Heidfeld needs either to raise his game or else risk being booted out of BMW-Sauber as the German outfit becomes an increasingly strong presence on the grand prix grid – that is the view of one of the sport's expert commentators, and former
Formula 1 star himself, Hans-Joachim Stuck.
Heidfeld has failed to out-qualify his young team-mate
Robert Kubica in any of the opening five grands prix of the 2008 campaign, and though he raced to the second step of the podium in the season curtain-raiser in Melbourne back in March, since then the German has been out-performed by Kubica four times out of four – in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain and most recently Turkey.
Whilst Kubica has taken the chequered flag respectively second, third, fourth and fourth, Heidfeld has crossed the line only sixth, fourth, ninth and fifth, tallying just twelve points to the Pole's 24, as the latter threatens to steal his mantle as the team's leading driver.
The 31-year-old's principal downfall has been his qualifying performances, with his smoother driving style failing to get temperature into the tyres as swiftly as the more aggressive manner of Kubica. That has left him in the lower half of the top ten on the grid on four occasions out of five, whilst his team-mate has notched up a brace of front row starting spots, including the maiden pole position of his increasingly impressive
F1 career in Bahrain. The Pole has an average qualifying position of 3.6 so far this year, the German just 7.2.
“If it continues like that, he could lose his seat,” Stuck told German website
spox.com. “I can well imagine that, to keep the progress moving forwards, BMW-Sauber may decide they need a more vigorous force.
“Mario Theissen knows how this business works – he will already have made some links to the superstars. There will certainly already be secret talks.
“Nick is important from a German perspective, but he is not a superstar. It is a difficult situation for him.”
BMW Motorsport Director Theissen has underlined that he will not finalise the squad's driver line-up for 2009 until later this summer.
