Heidfeld eyes Kubica, Petrov’s race seat for 2012

Nick Heidfeld has revealed he wants to stay at Renault next year, in either Robert Kubica or Vitaly Petrov’s place.

The 34-year-old German was drafted in for 2011 in the wake of Polish regular Kubica’s horror rally crash in February.

Kubica’s management insist the 26-year-old might return late in 2011, but Heidfeld has admitted he wants to stay at Renault beyond that.

Asked at Silverstone if he is thinking about 2012, he replied: "Yes I am and I am doing that by focusing entirely on this season.

"Nothing is more convincing than good results," Heidfeld told F1’s official website.

"I would like to stay at Lotus Renault very much but I don’t know what the exact situation is with Vitaly, and even less so with Robert."

But both Renault and Heidfeld have been struggling for form recently, with team boss Eric Boullier criticising the veteran after Monaco for not delivering in qualifying.

"I can truly say that in the last couple of races I’ve performed almost to maximum," he insists.

As for the car, added Heidfeld: "I think it is fair to say that we’ve fallen a bit behind compared to the beginning of the season, but I am convinced that we will move forward again and it would be nice to see this trend before we head into the summer break."