By Phil Giles
June 11 2004

Nick Heidfeld has taken part in Thursday's FIA press conference and has answered some of the fans questions in respect to what aero modifications have been made to the EJ14 and perhaps more importantly has hinted to a new Cosworth powerplant for the British Grand Prix.

First of all, could you both give us a re-cap of how testing went at Silverstone last week? Nick, could you start, a couple of days for you I think.
Yeah, we’ve been to Silverstone for two days. First of all, we were lucky with the weather. We had sunshine for the two days that we were there which is not so usual for Silverstone and we concentrated on tyres for the Silverstone race, and on the second day we did some aero work especially for here, for Canada, so we tried a new front and rear wing, which look quite promising.

Nick, to go back to the test at Silverstone, what sort of development parts are coming through for the car?
Well, as I said, we tried a new rear wing which probably was already ready before the test but as it’s the first time in Canada, we are running low or medium downforce, it’s the first time we really tried it and the front wing has a new main plain and they definitely look better than the normal one.

And is there much happening on the engine front?
Not at the moment. I hope that we will get a better engine for… I think it’s going to be for Silverstone.

So how do you feel about your move to Jordan after the first races of the season?
Well, before the first races I hoped that we could start off with a reliable car and then improve the car’s speed. Unfortunately I didn’t finish too many of the first few races. But I have to say that I’m quite happy with the progress we’re making at the moment. The car’s definitely more reliable and we are also improving our speed a lot. I think they are doing a good job for the budget we have and the size of the team. I heard they had problems developing the car last year but this year, at nearly each race we have a couple of new things and as we don’t test a lot, we just have to stick them on for the race and so far they’ve all worked.

What is your target ahead of you in terms of teams?
I just hope that we can get to the midfield teams. At the beginning of the season, we only had Minardi behind us and it’s very difficult to score points in that position, although we managed to do that in Monaco which was a big boost for everybody. But at the last race, Nürburgring, I think we saw improvement again. It was very good fun fighting against people again. I was able to keep a Toyota and a Jaguar behind and I was just pushing Felipe very hard on the last laps, so I think that wasn’t a bad race for us.

How much did local knowledge have to do with that?
I don’t think a lot because all those drivers have been to the Nürburgring before quite often. It’s definitely a circuit I like and I’ve been to probably more times than the others, but it shouldn’t be a big benefit.

So can you do the same thing here?
If you look at the last couple of races, our race speed has looked quite good. We have to improve our qualifying but it’s a bit difficult to predict what’s going to happen here because it’s a different circuit to all the others we’ve had so far this season, with so little downforce. I hope it’s going to suit our car, but honestly we don’t know yet.

Are you pretty much doing most of the development, given that you have a team-mate who is a newcomer to Formula One?
No, Giorgio is helping as well. He’s just giving his comments but I definitely try to work very hard with the engineers and I think it’s obviously a bit easier for me to tell them which direction to go and to make comparisons with the past.

Any pressure from Giorgio?
Yes, probably at the first couple of races it didn’t really look like it but he’s improving quite a lot and especially in testing I’ve seen that he has the pace if he gets it together.

So that pushes you a little bit does it?
Yeah, it definitely pushes me because as I know from the past, with Kimi and Felipe, when you get beaten by a newcomer it’s always a bad thing. It probably looks easy from the outside but I just try to keep him behind me all the time so I don’t even get the chance of people thinking ‘OK, that was no good.’

(Steve Cooper – Motorsport News) Nick, there are a number of drives available for next season and your name has been loosely linked to them. Do you think you need to do more self-publicising to make team bosses aware that you are available and you are talented and ready to start looking to move into a top seat, or do you think the chances are over?
No, for sure I don’t think that my chances are over but what I try to do is present myself on the circuit and I know that this year many people have realised that I’m doing a good job, and that’s all I’m concentrating on all the time, showing what I can do on the circuit.

(Steve Cooper – Motorsport News) Is that enough though, do you think?
I hope so. We will see next year but I don’t think it’s looking too bad at the moment.

(Bill Beacon – The Canadian Press) This being the Canadian Grand Prix, this question is obviously going to come up. I just wondered what both you drivers think of the possibility of Jacques Villeneuve coming back next season or whenever? A lot of people are saying that the sport misses him. I wonder how both you drivers feel?
Well, from what I’ve heard in the news, from the press and obviously especially from Canada, is that people miss him very much but honestly, I try to concentrate more on myself and I don’t really care too much what he’s going to do. I’ve had some races with him on the circuits, those were all OK, and I’m sure it would be great for Canada and a lot of other spectators who really like him but for me it’s not that important really.
Kimi Raikonnen: Pretty much the same. I don’t really mind if he comes back. He’s a nice guy so hopefully he will get a place again and we see what happens.

(Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Nick, your boss Eddie Jordan is one of the more colourful people in the paddock and has a great sense of humour. What’s it like to work for him and can you tell us some stories about him?
Well, it’s very different to Peter Sauber, for sure. (Laughter). Probably, they are the most opposite characters in Formula One, but I’ve got on with him very well right from the start. I saw him playing the drums last week at the Nürburgring. That was good fun. Luckily, I just arrived two minutes before he stopped. (Laughter)

(Bill Beacon – The Canadian Press) People call this a difficult track to race on because of the braking. What do you see as the challenges on this circuit as opposed to most others?
Well, I think on the braking side it’s more related to the car than the drivers. Obviously it’s not easy to always get your braking points 100 percent right but the bigger problem is the cooling for the brakes. The other thing is that you’re going to use a lot of the kerbs so you need a good car over the kerbs. Again, it’s one of the first races with low downforce and the car obviously handles pretty differently with that. And in the last couple of years we’ve also seen more engine failures here than on most other circuits.

(Steve Cooper – Motorsport News) Nick, given that BMW has a very German influence at Williams and being German, do you think that you have a good chance of getting the Williams drive next year? Do you think you deserve it?
I don’t want to speak too much about next year. At the moment we are speaking to a couple of teams and obviously my goal is still to move to a top team for the future, but that’s all I can say at the moment.

(Pino Allievi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for both of you, starting from here to the end of the season, on which circuit could Ferrari be beaten?
I don’t know. I’m not watching them that closely. They are not our target, we are not fighting against them, but as the season has shown so far it’s going to be difficult to beat them on any circuit unless other teams make big improvements or we have a chaotic race like in Monaco or some rain. It could happen.

(Heiki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nick, do you still feel disappointed about Kimi because he was chosen by McLaren, after seeing his results this year?
Well, if you look at only this season and only the points then no, but, I mean, it is so long ago now and I have answered that question so many times now. Obviously he is doing a good job there and I will see that I get a good drive for the future.

(Jon Noble - Autosport) Nick, prior to this season Kimi Raikkonen was viewed as a potential world championship winner and now, almost halfway through the season you have twice as many points as him. Is it frustrating that when you are fighting outside the top five or six that you feel you don’t get noticed by the big teams, that you are not automatically at the top. And what can you do? Do you need to promote yourself, speak more and be more open to get a seat with a top team?
Yes, it is definitely more difficult if you are not fighting at the front to present yourself, to show how good you are, but I have to say from the feedback I got this season it is very positive. It is better than it was the last one or two years at Sauber and that definitely is because the first season at Sauber, when Kimi was there as well, we had a very good car and we were always fighting for points. I got one podium and we showed very good results. The season or two after, everyone expected something similar but the car simply was not as quick so I was not noticed. Now, with Jordan, people I think realise that I am doing a good job and I think it is not bad at the moment.