Heidfeld began kart racing in 1988 at age 11. In 1994 he entered the German Formula Ford series, winning eight of nine races to take the championship. He won the German International Formula Ford 1800 Championship in 1995 and finished second in the Zetec Cup.
He entered the German Formula Three Championship in 1996, finishing third overall with three wins. Victory in the first heat of the end-of-season Macau Grand Prix attracted the attention of Norbert Haug, who signed him to the West Competition team. In 1997 Heidfeld won the German F3 title for Bertram Schäfer Racing with McLaren/West support, including a win at the Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race.
He moved to the International Formula 3000 championship in 1998 with West Competition, winning three races but finishing runner-up to Juan Pablo Montoya after being demoted to the back of the grid at the final race due to non-compliant fuel — a deficit of seven points. He also became the official test driver for McLaren-Mercedes during 1998. He won the International Formula 3000 championship outright in 1999 and set the official track record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that year, a record that stood for 20 years. He was part of the Mercedes squad at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the team withdrew after the Mercedes-Benz CLR back-flipped on the Mulsanne Straight.
Heidfeld made his Formula One debut with Prost Grand Prix in 2000 alongside Jean Alesi. He suffered a string of retirements and collided with his teammate on more than one occasion, finishing the year unclassified in the championship.
Heidfeld signed a three-year contract with Sauber for 2001, partnering rookie Kimi Räikkönen. He scored his first F1 podium with a third place at the Brazilian Grand Prix and outscored Räikkönen by three points over the season. Despite holding a Mercedes-backed profile, the McLaren seat that became available after Mika Häkkinen's retirement went to Räikkönen. Heidfeld stayed at Sauber for 2002 and 2003, outperforming rookie teammate Felipe Massa in 2002 but being beaten by more experienced compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 2003.
Replaced at Sauber by Giancarlo Fisichella for 2004, Heidfeld joined the financially strained Jordan team alongside rookie Giorgio Pantano. The EJ14 was slow, but Heidfeld regularly outperformed it: a seventh at Monaco and eighth at Canada (after disqualifications) yielded three championship points.
Heidfeld won a winter shootout against Antônio Pizzonia for the Williams seat vacated by Juan Pablo Montoya. He frequently finished ahead of teammate Mark Webber. At the seventh race of the season at the Nürburgring, his home Grand Prix, he took his sole career pole position. He finished second in Monaco and second again at the Nürburgring. Injuries from a testing accident forced him to miss the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix; a subsequent injury when struck by a motorbike while cycling ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Heidfeld joined BMW Sauber when BMW acquired the Sauber team for 2006, replacing Felipe Massa who moved to Ferrari. At Melbourne he ran as high as second before finishing fourth. An Indianapolis first-lap accident saw him launched into a quadruple barrel roll; all drivers involved walked away. He gave BMW Sauber their first podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing third from tenth on the grid.
In 2007 Heidfeld chased down and overtook reigning world champion Fernando Alonso around the outside in Bahrain. He finished second at the Canadian Grand Prix and achieved a career-best fifth in the World Drivers' Championship with 61 points, 22 ahead of teammate Robert Kubica. In April 2007 he drove three demonstration laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the first driver in 31 years to pilot a current F1 car there; approximately 45,000 spectators attended.
In 2008 he opened with a second place in Australia after qualifying fifth. At the Canadian Grand Prix, a safety-car sequence left Heidfeld and Kubica fighting for the top two positions; Heidfeld finished second as Kubica took BMW Sauber's first victory and their first one-two result. He set fastest laps in Malaysia and at the Hockenheimring. Following the German press nicknaming him "Leidfeld" (from "Leid," meaning misery in German) after a mid-season slump, he recovered with second places in Britain and Belgium. He became only the second driver to finish all eighteen races in a single season, and the first to finish every race since Michael Schumacher in 2002.
In 2009 Heidfeld qualified eleventh and finished tenth in Australia. At Malaysia, when the race was stopped on lap 33 due to torrential rain, he was running second on the penultimate completed lap and received half points. A collision with Adrian Sutil of Force India at the Singapore Grand Prix ended his streak of 41 consecutive classified finishes. He finished thirteenth in the Drivers' Championship.
Following BMW's withdrawal at the end of 2009, Heidfeld was linked to Mercedes GP alongside Nico Rosberg but the seat went to Michael Schumacher. He was confirmed as test and reserve driver for Mercedes GP before the 2010 season; at the Australian Grand Prix he was elected Chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. He was later released by Mercedes to become Pirelli's test driver, testing a Toyota TF109 fitted with Pirelli tyres at Mugello, Paul Ricard, and Jerez.
In September 2010 Heidfeld returned to the grid, replacing Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber for the remainder of the season — his third stint with the team. Sauber confirmed Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez for 2011, leaving Heidfeld without a drive until Robert Kubica suffered severe arm and hand injuries in a rally accident in Italy in February 2011.
Lotus Renault GP confirmed Heidfeld as Kubica's replacement on 16 February 2011. He qualified 18th and finished 12th on his Renault debut in Australia after race-start damage. On 10 April 2011 he finished third at the Malaysian Grand Prix from sixth on the grid, surpassing Stefan Johansson's record of 12 podiums without a win. He was replaced by Bruno Senna ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix and officially parted company with the team on 2 September 2011. Heidfeld departed F1 with one pole position, two fastest laps, and 13 podiums.
From 2012 Heidfeld raced for Rebellion Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2012 he shared a Lola-Toyota LMP1 car with Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, finishing fourth at Le Mans. He competed with Rebellion across five WEC seasons from 2012 to 2016, finished runner-up in the American Le Mans Series in 2013, and entered six Le Mans editions in total, winning the LMP1-L class in 2014 and finishing fourth overall twice.
Heidfeld signed for the inaugural Formula E season in June 2014, racing for Venturi Grand Prix. At the 2014 Beijing ePrix he had a collision with e.Dams Renault driver Nicolas Prost on the final lap while fighting for the lead; Prost later accepted responsibility. Heidfeld subsequently joined Mahindra in 2015 and scored seven further podiums across three seasons before leaving at the end of 2017–18.
Heidfeld's Formula One nickname was "Quick Nick," acquired during his time at Williams in 2005. He lived in Stäfa, Switzerland. He has two brothers: Tim (elder) and Sven, a former racing driver turned motorsport commentator for German television. In 2016, a mathematical modelling study ranking F1 drivers by relative driver-versus-machine influence placed Heidfeld 23rd all time.
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