Q&A with Nick Heidfeld after Germany

How was your home race?

It wasn’t what I was aiming for, that’s for sure. Before the race I thought we could have scored good points. But, as early as the first lap, I had a coming together with Paul (Di Resta). I locked up the front wheels and couldn’t avoid hitting him. Then I was at the back of the field but I made up positions quickly. The pace in this phase was actually good, though it was clear that it would be a difficult race. I was up to 16th and I knew the pace wasn’t bad; you never know what can happen during the race. Then I came up behind Sébastien (Buemi), who covered the left hand side on the way into the chicane, which was perfectly fine. I turned right to overtake him and after that he turned right as well, pushing me into the grass. Unfortunately I then took off and had a crash. Luckily I was not hurt, but it was a disappointing end to a race I would love to have done well at.

Nevertheless, have you seen signs of improvement on the car since Silverstone?

Yes I think so. If you look at our result in Germany it was not great. However, if you observe the pace compared to Silverstone, where we qualified 14th and 16th, it is going in the right direction. At present, it just doesn’t feel good enough, but we are working relentlessly on it.

Are you confident the team will get back to where it should be?

What makes me optimistic is that lately we’ve seen significant progress in the wind tunnel. Now it’s just a question of getting parts onto the car quickly. I’m hopeful we can get a few additions onto the car in Budapest, and I know that further afield, in Spa and Monza, we will have even greater upgrades.

Source Lotus Renault GP