Nick Heidfeld Explains His Struggles in 2008 - Montreal 2008 Pre-Race

Quick Nick might hold the record for the most podiums without a win in both F1 and Formula E (the latter shared with fellow German André Lotterer), but in my opinion that just shows that he was always a very solid operator, and I guess quite underrated as a result. I came across an article from The Race a few years ago which was ranking every Formula E driver at the time (it was in 2020; they ranked him 13th by the way) and it said about Heidfeld, that he was, and I quote, "a major development weapon." He might not have had the outright speed of some drivers, and was often the bridesmaid in terms of results, but I think he had a pretty great career all in all. I never understood why he was suddenly dropped by Renault after the 2011 Hungarian GP. At least his last action in F1 was a memorable one, albeit for the wrong reasons, what with his exploding sidepod (thank you forward facing exhaust)!

Quick Nick was a great driver. He's one of the best not to win a race. Had BMW not ended their development of the 2008 car I think he could have nicked a race win that season.

Do we know the reason why he couldn’t get the tyres working in qualifying?

Nick always seemed a tad too cerebral to be a top F1 driver. Great career nonetheless, although he never won in Formula E either