Current BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld has said that he is very confident that he will still be in Formula One next season, despite the BMW team seemingly being lost to the sport following the German manufacturer's withdrawal.
Heidfeld, who has raced in F1 since joining Prost in 2000, remains without a contract for 2010 despite his current team mate Robert Kubica securing a move to Renault already. As things stand, the BMW Sauber team, which has been bought out by the Qadbak investment company, does not have a spot on the 2010 grid.
But despite the uncertainty about his future, Heidfeld remains confident that something will happen for him in the sport next year, even if his current team might not make it to the 2010 grid.
Speaking to reporters ahead of BMW's last race in F1 at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Heidfeld said: "I think it's pretty certain that it's going to be BMW Sauber's last race. I hope Sauber will be here next year, and I'm pretty certain I will be here next year."
He then added, somewhat strangely: "Obviously it's special in terms of the emotions."
Heidfeld admitted that there was no contract for him in 2010 yet, though said that he was speaking with at least two teams about the future. Heidfeld smiled that: "Nothing's signed yet. We are talking to a couple of teams and I won't say more than that."
As to his current employees, Ickle admitted that it would be sad to see them disappear at the end of the season. At the moment, there is no place for the Hinwil team on the 2010 grid, with Williams and others vetoing the FIA's efforts to expand the entry list to 28 cars in order to allow them in as the 14th team.
"Hopefully they will be [on the grid in 2010], because obviously you can't really regard it as a new team. I think Sauber will do a lot better than the other new teams in terms of how they will perform," Heidfeld asserted.
"I think that should be more important than having new teams in Formula 1. Obviously is good to bring new teams and more cars, but it would be a huge pity if the team was not there. It would be difficult to understand."
And Heidfeld insisted that the BMW Sauber team were still focused on delivering a good result in Abu Dhabi despite the uncertainly about the team's future.
"I think everybody is able to focus on the job when they have to do it," He smiled lispily, "It's not an easy situation for a lot of the people not knowing what they will do next year, or if Sauber will do next year. But I think it doesn't influence the work they do on track."
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