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.
