Heidfeld confirmed at Lotus Renault

"I’m proud to have been given this chance"

Lotus Renault GP announced that Nick Heidfeld has joined the team, taking over driving duties from the injured Robert Kubica, starting at this week’s test session in Barcelona.

The 33-year-old German is one of the most experienced drivers in Formula 1 having started 172 races over the last 11 seasons. He will race alongside Vitaly Petrov when the season gets underway in Bahrain on 13 March.

Nick Heidfeld: “I would have liked to come back to Formula 1 in different circumstances, but I’m proud to have been given this chance. Everything has happened so quickly, but I’ve been very impressed by what I have seen so far in terms of the facilities and the dedication of the people at Enstone. I really enjoyed the test last week in Jerez and I’ve already settled in well with the guys at the track. I have a good feeling for the car, which is quite innovative. I’m extremely motivated and can’t wait for the season to begin.”

Eric Boullier: “The team has been through a very difficult couple of weeks and we had to react quickly. We gave Nick a chance in Jerez last week and he really impressed us. He’s quick, experienced and is very strong technically with his feedback and understanding of the car. We always said the priority was to have an experienced driver in the car and we feel he is the ideal man for the job. We are pleased to welcome Nick to the team and look forward to a strong start to the season with him and Vitaly in Bahrain.”

Barcelona test session

The driving schedule for the upcoming Barcelona test (18-21 February) is as follows:

Friday morning: Nick and Vitaly for pit-stop practice
Friday afternoon: Vitaly
Saturday: Nick
Sunday: Vitaly
Monday: Nick

Source: Nextgen Auto

Kimi German Rally preview in Finnish: A CONCRETE RIDE

I know the team hopes that we could make it through German Rally without mistakes. It's the season's second tarmac rally and our ride should be enough for us to reach quite good results.

I had drove in Jyskälä once before. From now on this season's remaining rallies are all completely new places to me.

Even though Germany is once again a completely new rally for me it still feels cool to get back on tarmac. Bulgaria was mostly promising but it doesn't help one bit now. This is a completely different rally. In Germany they drive a lot on concrete instead of on tarmac and from what I've heard it's a damn slippery road.

There's been talk about the notes every time, about how important they are and how difficult it is to learn them. I don't need anyone highlighting to me how noting would has to succeed really well in this rally and how I have to be extra careful with it.

I'm sure that the really long stage that I haven't drove with a rally car ever before is going to be pretty cool. It's about 50 km long and when you take the stages twice it will be an enormous amount of all the SS-kilometers.

It might get quite hot inside the cockpit and you know that the experience the top dudes have will only shine through better than before.

It's a clear thing that it is a place where it's important to drive without making mistakes. You can win or lose really big time.

We tested a couple of times in Germany. The car worked, everything went well and we found new setups again.

From the formula-times Germany isn't a place for me that I would like to remember. Something always went wrong.

Now we take off with a rally car and without those strains. The most important thing is to drive the race from the beginning to the end in a clean way. That is my number one wish and it's great if it happens. We need badly more kilometers in our meter so that we can get more experience which is what we need the most at this stage. After Jyskälä we had time to chill out. We rode trial, played golf and trained every day.

Now we are ready. We will see on Sunday how it went for us.

Source: Kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi's Column: A Concrete challenge

Kimi German Rally Preview

It's time we are heading for Germany. They say it's a tarmac surface, but most of all, for me, it brings a new challenge to go fast on the concrete roads, too.

Obviously, I know well the Red Bull Citroën Junior Team us to get through the weekend without mistakes and errors. This is the second tarmac rally of the season. We should heve the pace for the good result - as long as we avoid the biggerish mistakes.

In Rally Finland I got the luxury of having done it once before. But the rest of the season I have just all new places to go rallying.

Well, Germany Rally is a brand new race for me, but still it feels nicer to get back to the tarmac rally. Most of the time in Bulgaria was very encouraging for us. But as well we know, it's not helping a single bit this time.

German Rally is so different compared to the stages in Bulgaria. Instead of a whole tarmac rally we have plenty of miles on the roads surfaced with concrete. What I've heard, they are very slippery and we have to handle il with care down there.

Obviously, there is a lot talking of the pace notes in every rally, but this time it's even more important to get them perfecly right. We have to very precise and very careful with making the pace notes for this rally.

The most extreme points is the 48 kilometre special stage. It's the longest stage we'll have with these WRC cars. While you do that twice, it's almost one third of the total of the special stage kilometres in this rally.

I presume, it's going to be pretty hot in the cabin in that stage and, for sure, it will show the importance of the experience much more than in any other place. Obviously, it's the stage you'll win or lose in a big way, too.

After Rally Finland we had a couple of tests in Germany. Everything went well. The car felt good and we found some new settings for this rally.

Germany has never been good place for me, while I raced in Formula One. There was not a single weekend, we got everything nicely together. Always something went wrong.

But I'm not going to take any pressure of the old times. This is a different kind of a challenge and my number one hope is to finish the rally without any major hiccups. If we managed to do it, fine. We need all the miles available to clinch more the rallying experience we need so much in this point of my racing career.

After Jyväskylä I chilled out a little while with trial and golf. Of course, I trained every day to be ready for this new interesting rally event. Let's wait and see what we manage to achieve this time.

Source: Kimiraikkonen.com

German rivals unhappy with 'superstar' Vettel

It would be fair to say Sebastian Vettel is not on the Christmas card list of two of his countrymen and F1 rivals.

Veteran journalist Roger Benoit, long-time correspondent for the Swiss newspaper Blick, travelled to Montreal on the same Zurich flight as Vettel and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

He said the pair were seated not a car's length apart, but neither greeted one another nor exchanged a single word.

Benoit said the reason for the freeze was "clear": a few days earlier, Rosberg had said Vettel was definitely to blame for his crash with Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in Turkey.

Meanwhile, after Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, 22-year-old Vettel triggered the temper of Force India driver Adrian Sutil.
Vettel, he revealed to the media, had approached the 27-year-old and sarcastically asked if his rearview mirrors had fallen off during the Montreal race.

"He should be quiet. He thinks he's a superstar," Sutil is quoted as retorting.

Source: Motorsport.com

[Video] Flashback: Kimi speaks to RTL during his Ferrari days

Source: YouTube @niQlettsche