Had Nick Heidfeld’s career path gone as expected then he would never have spent the 2002 Formula 1 season at Sauber with Felipe Massa. The long-time Mercedes protege had won the German Formula 3 and International Formula 3000 titles in McLaren liveries, set the Goodwood hillclimb record in a 1998 MP4/13 and raced at Le Mans in the ill-fated CLR on what appeared a predestined path to becoming an F1 talisman for the Silver Arrows.
But Kimi Raikkonen’s emergence alongside second-year F1 racer Heidfeld at Sauber in 2001 meant it was the Finnish rookie that Ron Dennis instead called on to replace Mika Hakkinen for 2002, as the double world champion began a sabbatical which turned into a permanent F1 retirement. That left Heidfeld to continue at Sauber, joined by another newcomer in Massa who arrived fresh from dominating the second-tier European F3000 championship.
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But far from letting any bitterness at what could have been overshadow their spell together, today Heidfeld picks out the Brazilian as his favourite team-mate from a lengthy career that continued in LMP1 and Formula E after his F1 opportunities dried up midway through a partial 2011 campaign with the Enstone team then known as Lotus.
“Felipe Massa was my favourite team-mate on a personal level, just such an all-around good guy,” explains Heidfeld, who retains the record for the most podiums without an F1 win with 13, including eight runner-up finishes. “He’s liked and loved all over the world not only for his skills but also for his personality. As a team-mate, I can only echo that he’s just a really nice guy.
“He was also really honest, which was not the case with everybody. We had a lot of fun together.”
In addition to Raikkonen, Heidfeld would also race alongside F1 race winners Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mark Webber, Jacques Villeneuve and Robert Kubica. He won Petit Le Mans with Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost as part of a four-round American Le Mans Series programme in 2013 and later formed an effective double act with Felix Rosenqvist at the Mahindra FE squad. But Massa’s cheery demeanour and a regular pre-race routine stuck with Heidfeld.
Source: Autosport