Nick Heidfeld: The 50 things you dunno about Nick
[return] A list of curiosities about Nick Heidfeld

01. “Once I was close to being chucked out of school, but I’m not going to tell you what that was for. When I was 14, something happened that really was quite scary. A friend was driving me on a tractor and, as we approached a downhill hairpin, he depressed the clutch and we got faster and faster. We ended up going round the corner on two wheels. It was nearly a disaster because there was no roll hoop.”

02. When Nick was a kid, he wasn't allowed to kart even though his younger brother was.
“I was too small. At the hire kart tracks they had these bars. If you could walk under them you weren’t allowed to drive.”

03. As a young nipper not yet five years old, he was already riding Motocross with his younger and elder brother. Small machines with 50 cc engines provided two-wheeled fun aplenty. “Until I had an accident where I got my leg stuck between the wheel and the mudguard, and unfortunately the engine was jammed at full throttle…”, he recalls the painful loss of his calf muscle.

04. Even though Nick is known as a food lover, he doesn't feel confortable in the kitchen and doesn't like to cook.

05. Nick says the weirdest moment he had in F1 was back in Sauber time, when he accidently hit a safety car's door, after a curve in Interlagos.

06. His first daughter, Juni, was born just after a race (French GP - July 3rd, 2005), so Nick had to be quick - and calm - enough, to get there in time.

07. Nick got the scar on his chin when he was a kid. He was swimming and couldn't avoid hitting the border of the pool.

08. Nick has a TV that swivels at the touch of a button right in his living room. He often uses the bedroom tv to access internet.

09. Nick lived in Monaco for some time. It was his dream to live there, but he decided to move to Swiss after concluding Monaco is a boring city.

10. Nick Heidfeld usually wears a Schuberth's 'Formel 1-Racehelm RF1' helmet, which costs $20000.

11. "I learned how to ride a bike near the circuit (Nürburgring) when I was 3 years old and my father often used to take my two brothers and me there when we were young and in winter we even went tobogganing on the Nordschleife! (the old North loop circuit.)"

12. "I met Patricia at a nightclub, as people often do. Obviously I'd seen her before in Mönchengladbach. But you know what it's like: When you really like someone you're not sure about going up to talk to them. On that night at the club, I'd fortunately plucked up enough Dutch courage to do it. Then we sat down and had a drink together. We had a fun time."

13. "Top of my travel list are New Zealand, Croatia, and Sardinia. For me, the most amazing vacation paradise was the Maldives. My favorite Formula One destinations are Australia and Canada. That's nothing special, though. I bet 90% of the paddock would agree."

14. When asked which is hiw sport hero, Nick has no doubt in saying, "Michael Jordan. Though I never had a poster of him on my wall I strongly admired him for his spirit of never giving up a game. Even when it looked hopeless he had that personal strength to turn the odds around and turn an almost inevitable loss into a win."

15. "For sure, we high profile people need something to help us relax and I have been collecting bottle tops since my Formula 3 days – I have thousands, including a rare Tiger beer one from 1974"

16. The paintings that decorate his 19th century house at Stäfä were all painted by Patricia.

17. Nick dedicated his first podium (Brazil 2001) to his uncle wolfgang, who had recently died.

18. Nick began his karting career along with the Schumacher brother, and once almost hit Michael with his kart.

19. When his father first allowed him to kart, Nick was told that he should follow him for some laps, so he could get used to the track layout. After one lap, Nick thought his father was too slow, and decided to overtake him.

20. In 1997, Nick became the youngsten guy to win the german F3 title, at the age of 20.

21. In 2007, Nick and Robert took part on an auction, offering a gear to be sold out. The money (RM59,500) was used to help life-saving projects in Malaysia and throughout the globe.

22. For contractual reasons, Nick isn't allowed to take part in some sports, like ski, snowboard, parachute, or even ride a bike on race days.

23. "The first time I drove a kart myself was on the old karting track at the circuit - with a tyre and a blanket wedged behind my back so that I could reach the pedals," says Nick

24. "At home, I'm a really slow guy and love to spend the day doing nothing. I'm generally late because takes me some time to notice things. Was also like this when I was a kid. Even worst then," he confesses

25. "Hungary has given me some of my best memories of racing. I won the F3000 race there in 1998, and I remember Montoya and his manager David Sears screaming at me in the pit lane because they said I*d blocked him in qualifying. Montoya then started the race from the dirty side of the grid and before the race his mechanics swept the track ahead of him. My engineer David Brown told one of our mechanics to go over and ask if we could borrow their broom," Nick remembers

26. In Indianapolis 2007, 30 minutes before the start of the race, BMW Sauber mechanics started to get nervous while looking for Nick Heidfeld. “I was laying upstairs, in a massage chair and I fell asleep - and lost the sense of time. When I heard engines, I noticed I'd have to hurry up to boxes.”

27. "In 1999 I won the F3000 title in Hungary. After the race we went out to celebrate at a place called LeRoy Beach close to the Danube but were told we couldn*t go in because Sylvester Stallone was having a private party there. We had to wait until he and his bodyguards left before they let us in!"

28. In 2000, Nick used to wear two watches, one on each arm.

29. When he was 19, he had to go bald, because of military work.

30. Nowadays Nick doesn't have much time for golf, but he first tried the sport at the age of 16.

31. In his first visit to Australia, Nick sitted at the left side of the car, and looked for the steering wheel.

32. In 2004, he switched t-shirts with Schumi at a party in japan. And never remembered to switch back.

33. Nick used to collect Panini's soccer stickers.

34. He smokes from time to time.

35. His first car was a Opel Corsa (45 PS). Nowadays he drives a Porsche 911 and a 1967 Käfer Cabrio.

36. About Nick's taste for food: He loves liver meat... He's also a 'M&M's-lover' and would rather drink wine than beer.

37. Nick watched Juni's first steps on his cellphone. He also takes a video of her with him, so he can watch when he's travelling.

38. He loves test periodicals.

39. When Nick was a kid, he once bought his kart the tires from Frentzen's go kart, who lived in same town.

40. His full name is Nick Lars Heidfeld.

41. Nick's second baby, Joda, was born in a GP weekend, so he had to fly to Switzerland after qualifying and return in time for the race. The name was Patricia's idea, "Patricia came up with the name and didn`t even know that it had been used in a movie. Obviously, I knew the name but I'm not a huge fan of the films and simply thought the name sounded good." Joda, or Yoda, is one of the characters in George Lucas' "Star Wars"

42. In 1999, Nick Heidfeld was awarded the Driver Revelation of the Year trophy by the French publication L'Automobile Magazine.

43. Nick supports Borussia Mönchengladbach, but says h's not a 'fanatic' for soccer anymore.

44. His favorite restaurant is Chateau de la Chevre D'Or in Eze outside Monaco.

45. When asked about who was the first girl he liked, he said, "It was when I was probably six years old or something - a girl on the other side of the street. I don't remember her name. All I remember is that she was from Sweden."

46. In Turkey 2007, Nick and his teammate Robert Kubica couldn't help having some fun during a Bridgestone event: They noticed their names were made with letter stickers, so decided to drop the 'f', 'u', 'c', 'k', 'e' and a 'r', that they glued in the back of the tshirt of the Spyker driver, Winkelhock.

47. Nick is the ambassator of "Luca & Lea", a swiss organization for safety of kids in traffic. In October 2007, Nick even gave a class to about 150 kids.

48. Nick is a Harry Potter fan. He read all the seven books, finishing the last during tests in Jerez.

49. According to the german newspaper Welt (januray 2008), Nick earns thirteen millions of dollars per year.

50. Nick's dog, Friedo, is five years old. He's a mixture of 1/4 appenzeller and 3/4 labrador.

Source (30 - 39 and 50): Bild
Source (43 - 45): Flagworld
Source (48): Blick
Source (49): Welt