Our top speed should pay off - Heidfeld
The Lotus Renault F1 Team is looking ahead to the third race of the 2011 season with a lot of confidence after the positive results from Australia and Malaysia. Following his first podium for two years, Nick Heidfeld can’t wait to get back in the R31 in Shanghai.
Nick, sum up your feelings after a great race to the podium last weekend in Sepang? "It’s a super result for me and the team. After two races, we have had two cars on the podium, which shows how much progress the team has made over the winter. My hope is that we can keep up in the development race and have many more results like this during the year."
We saw some good racing in Sepang last weekend and lots of use of the DRS – what was your experience of it? "There was a lot of action in the race and it’s clear the DRS is helping with overtaking. Of course, if you use the wing to overtake somebody, you like it, and if you are overtaken, you don’t like it. I’ve always said that I don’t like the idea of artificially improving the racing, but now that we have this rule we just have to make the best of it."
Looking ahead to China, can you continue to fight for podiums? "It’s too early to say. It really depends on the upgrade packages the other teams bring to China, which might change the pecking order a little bit. We had a good upgrade in Sepang, and our package this weekend in Shanghai is not as big. But I think it’s a circuit where our car will go well because we have good top speed, which should pay off down the long back straight."
Source LRGP
