- 13 May 08, 04:27#43319
Ever since the Turkish Grand Prix, a few people seem to be talking about Robert Kubica 'destroying' and 'outperforming' Nick Heidfeld this season.
Now I agree that it seems Robert has a slight edge over the experienced German, but I don't think there is much of a disparity between the two at all, and either one of them can get the job done for BMW this season.
Here are the team's results this season:
Australia: HEI, Q 5th, Race 2nd (8 pts). KUB, Q 2nd, DNF (hit by Nakajima)
Malaysia: HEI, Q 5th, Race 6th (11), fastest lap. KUB, Q 4th, Race 2nd (8), Gap to Heidfeld, - 30.2 seconds.
Bahrain: HEI, Q 6th, Race 4th, (16). KUB, Pole Position, Race 3rd (14). Gap to Heidfeld - 3 seconds.
Spain: HEI, Q 9th, Race 9th (16), drive-through pen. KUB, Q 4th, Race 4th (19). Gap to Heidfeld - 58 seconds.
Turkey: HEI, Q 9th, Race 5th (20). KUB, Q 5th, Race 4th (25). Gap to Heidfeld - 17 seconds.
Now on the face of it, it would appear that Nick has been destroyed by Robert, but not if you analyse the races.
In Melbourne, Kubica qualified on the front row, and should have had pole. He raced strongly early on, but faded after the safety car came out in the middle of the race, before being unlucky to be hit by Nakajima. Heidfeld however, raced really strongly, and was the only driver to keep Hamilton honest late on.
Malaysia: Robert was only 4th on the grid, but got a good start and raced very strongly to a distant second place. Nick got a good start but was hit by Trulli in turn one and forced wide. He fell down to 10th and couldn't make much headway after that, finishing only 6th, just behind Hamilton and Trulli. It's safe to say he had the pace to finish ahead of the pair of them, and probably Kovalainen as well. He set the fastest lap chasing after Hamilton late in the race.
Bahrain: BMW's best weekend yet. Kubica did a brilliant qualifying lap to get pole. Nick was 6th on the grid, but raced well and was generally as fast as his team-mate, in the end finishing only a couple of seconds behind him as they chased the Ferraris hard to within about 5 seconds of the red cars.
In Spain, Kubica qualified well and latched onto the tail of the top 3, who were within 4 seconds of each other. Heidfeld was running a nice fifth after the demise of Kovalainen and Alonso, until he was forced to pit under the safety car which cost him at least that 5th place if not more. As a result of the penalty he got stuck behind Button, Nakajima and Trulli, and he had no chance to overtake on that particular track.
This weekend in Turkey looked a lot worse than it was for Nick in relation to Kubica. Robert again got the best out of his tyres to be 5th on the grid, while Nick struggled into 9th place. Kubica's race was lonely after Kimi got past and he finished 4th, helped by Heikki's dramas. Nick got a good start, making up a couple of positions, and once he jumped Alonso and Webber at the first stops, he knew fifth was the best he could do. He wasn't pushing for most of the race, knowing that he couldn't catch Kubica and the Renault and Red Bull weren't a threat to his position.
Mario Theissen has said that Nick struggles to warm up his tyres effectively in qualifying, but makes up for it in the race with 'great overtaking moves'. he says it is no different to last year, when Robert struggled with the new control tyres.
I think they're both fantastic drivers, and perfect for this team. People look at the results all the way down F1, and if two team-mates have trouble-free runs and there is a big gap between them, they automatically assume one driver isn't as good as the other one.
For example in Turkey, there was a 17 second gap between NH and RK. 7 seconds of that was probably Nick being behind FA and MW, and the other 10 was probably Robert pushing really hard to try and fend off Raikkonen. It doesn't mean that RK is in any way better than Nick is.
Oh and Nick can't be such a bad qualifier, after all he did get pole at the Nurburgring in 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_j8V1Z7mVk
Now I agree that it seems Robert has a slight edge over the experienced German, but I don't think there is much of a disparity between the two at all, and either one of them can get the job done for BMW this season.
Here are the team's results this season:
Australia: HEI, Q 5th, Race 2nd (8 pts). KUB, Q 2nd, DNF (hit by Nakajima)
Malaysia: HEI, Q 5th, Race 6th (11), fastest lap. KUB, Q 4th, Race 2nd (8), Gap to Heidfeld, - 30.2 seconds.
Bahrain: HEI, Q 6th, Race 4th, (16). KUB, Pole Position, Race 3rd (14). Gap to Heidfeld - 3 seconds.
Spain: HEI, Q 9th, Race 9th (16), drive-through pen. KUB, Q 4th, Race 4th (19). Gap to Heidfeld - 58 seconds.
Turkey: HEI, Q 9th, Race 5th (20). KUB, Q 5th, Race 4th (25). Gap to Heidfeld - 17 seconds.
Now on the face of it, it would appear that Nick has been destroyed by Robert, but not if you analyse the races.
In Melbourne, Kubica qualified on the front row, and should have had pole. He raced strongly early on, but faded after the safety car came out in the middle of the race, before being unlucky to be hit by Nakajima. Heidfeld however, raced really strongly, and was the only driver to keep Hamilton honest late on.
Malaysia: Robert was only 4th on the grid, but got a good start and raced very strongly to a distant second place. Nick got a good start but was hit by Trulli in turn one and forced wide. He fell down to 10th and couldn't make much headway after that, finishing only 6th, just behind Hamilton and Trulli. It's safe to say he had the pace to finish ahead of the pair of them, and probably Kovalainen as well. He set the fastest lap chasing after Hamilton late in the race.
Bahrain: BMW's best weekend yet. Kubica did a brilliant qualifying lap to get pole. Nick was 6th on the grid, but raced well and was generally as fast as his team-mate, in the end finishing only a couple of seconds behind him as they chased the Ferraris hard to within about 5 seconds of the red cars.
In Spain, Kubica qualified well and latched onto the tail of the top 3, who were within 4 seconds of each other. Heidfeld was running a nice fifth after the demise of Kovalainen and Alonso, until he was forced to pit under the safety car which cost him at least that 5th place if not more. As a result of the penalty he got stuck behind Button, Nakajima and Trulli, and he had no chance to overtake on that particular track.
This weekend in Turkey looked a lot worse than it was for Nick in relation to Kubica. Robert again got the best out of his tyres to be 5th on the grid, while Nick struggled into 9th place. Kubica's race was lonely after Kimi got past and he finished 4th, helped by Heikki's dramas. Nick got a good start, making up a couple of positions, and once he jumped Alonso and Webber at the first stops, he knew fifth was the best he could do. He wasn't pushing for most of the race, knowing that he couldn't catch Kubica and the Renault and Red Bull weren't a threat to his position.
Mario Theissen has said that Nick struggles to warm up his tyres effectively in qualifying, but makes up for it in the race with 'great overtaking moves'. he says it is no different to last year, when Robert struggled with the new control tyres.
I think they're both fantastic drivers, and perfect for this team. People look at the results all the way down F1, and if two team-mates have trouble-free runs and there is a big gap between them, they automatically assume one driver isn't as good as the other one.
For example in Turkey, there was a 17 second gap between NH and RK. 7 seconds of that was probably Nick being behind FA and MW, and the other 10 was probably Robert pushing really hard to try and fend off Raikkonen. It doesn't mean that RK is in any way better than Nick is.
Oh and Nick can't be such a bad qualifier, after all he did get pole at the Nurburgring in 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_j8V1Z7mVk
Mainly supporting Sauber, Renault and McLaren
Apex Racing League member.
Twitter: @woody2goody_uk
Apex Racing League member.
Twitter: @woody2goody_uk
Not shifting MY MAN! i.e. Heikki 
To my surprise actually. 
