Heidfeld: My race-seat is secure

Editor 28 Jul 2011 4:32 PM

Nick Heidfeld is adamant his Lotus Renault GP seat is not in jeopardy despite recent criticism from team boss Eric Boullier.

Following the German GP, which saw Heidfeld record a DNF after clashing with Sebastien Buemi, Renault announced that test driver Bruno Senna would take the German’s race-seat in Friday’s first practice in Hungary.

A day later and Heidfeld, who was called up at the start of the campaign to replace the injured Robert Kubica, came in for some heavy criticism from his team boss.

“He has not provided the leadership we wanted. He hasn’t taken hold of the team,” Boullier told sports.fr. “We rely more on Vitaly for performance, with Nick more suitable for the development of the car.”

Heidfeld, though, is confident he’s done enough to ensure he holds onto his race-seat until the end of the Championship.

“I’m happy with where I am with the team. I think we all get on well,” he told Autosport.

“Bruno gets the chance to drive here, and I think Eric said Grosjean is doing a good job in GP2, but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to take my seat.

“I don’t think it has been a perfect season so far, but I think it’s been good and certainly good enough to fight for a seat next year.

“I will obviously keep on pushing and try to do my best and then we’ll see what happens.”