Heidfeld happy to be in f1 car again

After three months away from the cockpit Nick Heidfeld was delighted to get back behind the wheel today as BMW Sauber took to the test circuit for the first time. The test was the first for the Sauber C24B chassis with BMW P86 V8 engine and Heidfeld completed 28 laps.

In the morning, the C24B ran without any problems while in the afternoon session at Circuit de Catalunya, the engineers concluded the programme early.

Nick Heidfeld "After an almost three-month break I could hardly wait for the first test. The chassis and engine ran without any problems in the morning. All the systems were working perfectly. Of course you can tell the difference in performance compared to the V10. That's something you just have to get used to. A positive surprise is that the engine vibrates a lot less than I had expected. In the afternoon we had to break off work early when the engineers spotted a problem in the data and told me to switch off the engine."

On Tuesday the team will resume the test programme as planned with further engine and systems testing.