Nick Heidfeld says he ‘can’t wait’ to return to the cockpit of a Formula One car as he takes over Pedro de la Rosa’s role at Sauber.
The German driver failed to secure a race seat for the 2010 season, instead taking a backseat at Mercedes as their test and reserve driver.
With the ban on in-season testing, the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the MGP-01 never materialised. That led to Heidfeld jumping at the chance of testing for Pirelli, which then led to the chance to join Sauber, an opportunity too good to turn down.
“I can’t wait to get back in the race car,” he said in a team preview. “I’m not just very much looking forward to going racing again, as I regard it as a special bonus that my first race will be the Singapore Grand Prix.
“Two years ago this race immediately became one of my favourites.”
His return to Sauber, where he was a driver between 2001 and 2003 and between 2006 and 2009, when it was BMW-Sauber, will see him reunited with much of the same engineers.
Something he doesn’t have any experience with is the car, however he should be able to sit comfortably as he will be using his old seat.
“I can hardly imagine how the circuit will suit the car as I haven’t driven it yet, but according to everything I saw and from what I have heard, the performance should be better in Singapore compared to Monza,” he added.
“Another positive thing is we found out I probably can use my seat from last year. This does not only save a lot of work, but it also gives me a good feeling because it was a very good seat and normally you have to do a lot of fine tuning until it fits that well.”
