Which current Formula One driver is nicknamed Sea Bass? Who designed the classic Volkswagen Beetle? When was the first pair of sunglasses sold? And what year’s model was Steve McQueen’s famous green Mustang? These are just some of the challenging questions we thought BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld should know the answers to as he agreed to be the second participant in our trivia-testing ‘Ask the Expert’ series. But how did Heidfeld do? Find out here…
Q: Your childhood hero was Michael Jordan, but which film did he star in back in 1996?
Nick Heidfeld: I’ve seen the movie - it was half animated. But I really cannot remember the title of the movie.
Incorrect - it’s Space Jam.
Q: You own a classic VW Beetle, but can you name the car’s original designer?
NH: Wasn’t it Ferdinand Porsche? At least that’s what is stored in my memory.
Half marks - it was actually Porsche’s chief designer, Erwin Komenda.
Q: In what city was your team mate Robert Kubica born?
NH: Krakow.
Correct
Q: Formula One drivers have a reputation for vanity, but why did you once say ‘I simply got tired of wasting time in front of the mirror every morning’?
NH: Must have something to do with my beard.
Correct - he made the comment after growing a beard.
Q: You have notched up the longest uninterrupted run of race classifications in the history of the sport. How many?
NH: 31. It’s not the nicest record ever. I would prefer to have Michael’s (Schumacher) record of wins. But then there is still room to improve.
Correct
Q: You live in the Swiss town of Stafa, but which German poet famously stayed in the town?
NH: I have no idea!
Incorrect - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Q: You scored your first world championship points with fourth place for Sauber at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, but who won the race?
NH: Michael Schumacher - that’s the easiest choice anyway.
Correct
Q: They must put something in the water at your birthplace, Monchengladbach, as it has spawned three Formula One drivers. You of course are one, but can you name the other two?
NH: Frentzen and Hans Heyer.
Correct - Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Hans Heyer.
Q: Your nickname is ‘Quick Nick’, but which current Formula One driver is known by some as ‘sea bass’?
NH: I’ve no clue! Sea bass? (laughs out loud) I have to get around more in the paddock!
Incorrect - Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais.
Q: At last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, you were dropped three grid places after qualifying for supposedly impeding which driver?
NH: Barrichello!
Correct - Rubens Barrichello, who was a Honda driver at the time.
Q: Statistically you have scored the most points (204) of any driver not to have won a Grand Prix. One of your contemporaries is in second place on this list. Can you name which one?
NH: Alesi? Ahhh, he’s not racing anymore,e but I remember it took ages before he clinched his first win. So we are looking for someone who is still around? Don’t know.
Incorrect - It’s Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who has scored 101.5 points without a win.
Q: Your team mate Robert Kubica is taller than you and before the 2008 season worked hard to lower his weight, how many kilos did he lose?
NH: That depends on what you believe. There have been so many funny numbers swirling around. From me, no comment.
Incorrect - apparently Kubica lost seven kilos.
Q: You finished runner-up in the 1998 F3000 championship to Juan Pablo Montoya. How many NASCAR Sprint Cup races has Montoya won since leaving F1?
NH: Two?
Incorrect - Heidfeld was being a little generous there. He’s actually won just the one.
Q: You are a fan of sunglasses, but can you guess in what year the first pair was sold?
NH: Must have been around 1928.
Close enough for us - it was in 1929 by the Foster Grant company in Atlantic City, USA.
Q: You list the 1965 Ford Mustang as one of your favourite classic cars. Steve McQueen famously drove a Mustang on film in the car-lovers’ classic ‘Bullitt’. What year was McQueen’s Mustang and in which American city was the film set?
NH: It was a ’68 car in green. As for the city I have no clue.
One out of two - 1968 Mustang GT fastback, San Francisco.
Q: Zurich is your adopted home. Which church in Zurich features the largest church clock face in the world?
NH: Don’t know. I should probably go out for a city tour!
Incorrect - Heidfeld’s obviously spent too much time away from home travelling to Formula One races. It’s St Peter’s, (downstream from the Fraumünster, in the old city).
Q: You are German and a golfing fan. How many times has Germany’s greatest golfer Bernhard Langer won the prestigious Masters tournament?
NH: Two times.
Correct - Twice, in 1985 and 1993.
Q: You started your Formula One career with Prost. How many Grand Prix did Alain Prost win as a driver?
NH: Something around 52? Anyway it was an impressive number.
Admirably close, so half marks - it’s actually 51
Q: In 1996 you finished third in the German F3 series. Which of your current F1 rivals won the championship that year?
NH: Trulli.
Correct - Jarno Trulli
Final score: 12 points from a possible 21
Ask the Expert rating: 57%
Current leader board:
1. Sebastian Vettel - 64%
2. Nick Heidfeld - 57%
More drivers coming soon.
(From Website : http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2009/4/9160.html)
15 years ago
