[denyffishh]

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/14092010/...-heidfeld.html

I'm actually quite shocked. I don't think that De La Rosa was that bad and I actually thought he was doing ok, at the very least worthy of a seat for an entire year.

I think that Heidfeld is a decent driver, but I am not sure he will be that much of an upgrade to De La Rosa.

For his part, DLR showed more class in his statement than I would have.

Heidfeld is going to do his typical ho-hum performances as he usually doesn't perform unless his job is on the line, and I have a sneaky suspicion that Heidfeld has signed up for 2011.

[Pasy]

A bit harsh on Pedro. Perhaps he'll take over the Pirelli testing duties, but I can't see him getting another race seat.

[FYIbiatches]

He's 40 next year. Pedro is a nice guy but it's time to give it up.

[texprofi]

I think Heidfeld is a quicker and better race driver than de la Rosa. Sauber knows how to work with him and this is a good base for the team to work with.

Upon reflection, Sauber made a mistake not signing him for 2010.

[zCLadw3R]

Yes, I also expected him in the seat at the beginning of the year, instead of De la Rosa. Now it happened anyway, so a good choice in my eyes, although DLR did ok so far, despite a bit lack of points.

If DLR wants to be in F1 next year, I guess HRT would be his only option. They certaintly can use a guy with experience at least.

[mpzoFeJs]

Harsh on de la Rosa, who doesn't deserve to be treated like that, even though Heidfeld is a superior driver. But the timeline of Peter Sauber's thinking process is a bit questionable to me. Why hire Heidfeld now, not in the beginning of the season?!

Let's see, how quickly can Nick adapt to the car. Not much left for doing that though, but at least Kobayashi can get a proper benchmark for proving himself.

[larentont]

a surprise yes, but not a decision lacking sense, get Nick back in the car and get some heads up on the development of next years car while his Pirelli knowledge is still fresh. I do think that Nck is a more viable option than Pedro, albeit a bit harsh on the lad who has done nothing wrong this year to deserve being dumped.

it will give a benchmark for Koby too, as we know better how good Nick is, Pedro was a difficult to gauge as to his speed. if he wants a seat fro next year he'll need to take some technical knowledge and a wedge of cash to the spanish team, whatever they may be called by next season

[paypaltoegold1]

Upon reflection, Sauber made a mistake not signing him for 2010.

Nick turned the offer down I'm pretty sure.

[JohnMitchel]

Quite harsh on Pedro, who with all things considered did a respectable job. Hopefully he is on the grid next year if he so chooses.

[FredderiK]

Good to see the old Wolfman back , Course i think he should have been on the grid since Bahrain but whatever..

Bit harsh on Pedro, Unless your names Michael Schumacher it's not gonna be easy finding a Seat at 40+ years old, Time will tell.

[popillio]

Always likely to happen unless Pedro could bring some cash to Sauber.

[asSexate]

How very odd.

Nick is a perfectly solid F1 driver but I don't understand the logic of dropping one midfield driver for another, when that same driver didn't get the seat at the start of the season.

On the plus side, Nick is a known quantity at Sauber so all the better to judge Kobay against.

[vvxtiopmx]

A bit surprising, and yes, a bit harsh on DLR, but ultimately I have to agree with the choice. It was ridiculous that Heidfeld didn't have a race seat for this year to begin with, and equally surprising that Sauber opted to hire DLR almost out of nowhere (I mean, who really expected him to get the nod??). So this somewhat normalizes things.

I'll go out on a limb here and claim that Nick will score more points in the remaining races than DLR has all season so far, and perhaps even more than Kobayashi will in the last 5 races. If Kamui can beat Nick too, then he should silence even his last doubters - for now.

Good luck to DLR, I think the Pirelli test seat is ultimately where he fits in better.

Now, if we can only get that OTHER underperforming 40+ year old comebacker to vacate his cockpit, too, then we'll be in good shape.

[Mmccqrtb]

So much for loyalty to a guy who was performing well enough.

Will NH do better?

I dunno, but one of the excuses had to do with car development, and I seem to remember that Pedro was THE test driver for a long time at Mac........so I think that excuse does not fly.....

[intorkercet]

poor old pedro, he must be just as shocked as everyone else. he's done ok this year and fair play to him for taking it so well.

having said that im glad to see heidfeld back, despite the fact we have yet another german on the grid. but as they are all at least half decent, we can't complain.

[RemiVedia]

Nick is easily better than PDR... PDR = back of the pack driver. Nick = Between front and mid pack driver.

[denyffishh]

when given a decent car like the mclaren, PDLR did very well in it.
And given this year's Sauber, he has done a decent enough job in the car.
I don't recall any terrible performances except for the one off track excursion I think in Spa practice.

I'm not saying he is a top driver, I just don't think Heidfeld is an upgrade knowing his history. Neither do I think Heidfeld brings anything to the development side of things. I have never heard of Heidfeld as being any kind of asset in terms of developing a car ( let alone setups) whereas PDLR has a long history of being instrumental in developing race winning cars.

His racing days may be over, but his value to an F1 team would probably remain in high demand. For one, a team like mercedes would benefit from his services.

[WhonyGataxott]

How very odd.

Nick is a perfectly solid F1 driver but I don't understand the logic of dropping one midfield driver for another, when that same driver didn't get the seat at the start of the season.

On the plus side, Nick is a known quantity at Sauber so all the better to judge Kobay against.

You're calling Heidfeld a midfield driver?
He did beat Kubica more often than not, so what do you call the Pole then?

[WhonyGataxott]

So much for loyalty to a guy who was performing well enough.

His got 30% of his team mate's points tally, that's not well enough considering they had both the same number of technical DNFs.

[DoctorGordanBens]

I like Nick Heidfeld, and although I think its a bit harsh on Pedro I think Nick can get the car more reguarly into the points, something which he is normally pretty good at.

Lets see