F1Weekly Podcast #297 (08-06-2008)

  

Podcast # 297 !

Is Nick Heidfeld getting a bad wrap?
Kimi promises to fix his quali woes.
Will Fernando really go to Honda?
Motorsports Mondial with Nasir.

 

Tale of two drivers: With high hopes and impressive championship winning credentials in German Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 3000, Nick Heidfeld arrived in Formula 1 in 2000 with Peugeot-powered Prost team. Sauber was his next destination in 2001 and three years with the Swiss team yielded only one podium finish. After a fruitless season in 2004 with Jordan he moved to then BMW-powered Williams team for 2005, scoring the only pole position of his career so far at Nurburgring in the European Grand Prix. The man from Monchengladbach was back at Sauber when BMW bought the Hinwil based team from Peter Sauber. In 2007 Heidfeld made two podium appearances and finished fifth in the championship. This season Heidfeld has been on the hot seat and outshined by his Polish teammate Robert Kubica who gave the team their maiden win in Montreal.

Kimi Raikonnen, the Espoo Express, arrived in Formula 1 ahead of schedule with only 23 races under his belt. Rising up to the challenge, he scored a point on his Grand Prix debut in 2001 in land down under. The Ice Man was then picked up by McLaren and scored his first Formula 1 victory in the searing heat at Sepang in the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. He scored a dramatic last lap win over Giancarlo Fisichella in the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka after starting from the back of the grid. In 2007, in his first year with Ferrari he staged another dramatic comeback to overcome a 26 points deficit to win the world title in the final race of the season in Brazil. Low in vocabulary and high on party, Kimi Raikkonen is an amazing racing talent but definitely one with his own agenda.