Mat Coch writes:

Striding with purpose into the Sauber hospitality suite, Nick Heidfeld made his return to the Grand Prix paddock as a fully fledged race driver on Thursday. It's the first time since the 2009 finale in Abu Dhabi that the German has had an active driving role over a race weekend, clearly relishing the opportunity as photographers snapped his every step.

Replacing the dumped Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber, Heidfeld had been working as Pirelli's test driver ahead of the Italian tyre manufacturer's return to Formula One in 2011. Just a month earlier, the former Prost, Sauber, Williams, BMW and Jordan driver had been reserve driver at Mercedes.

"I always believed that I would be back," said the German. "When I had the chance to drive for Sauber from Singapore onwards, obviously I had to grab that chance. It was not an easy season for me being a third driver."

Thanks to his experience with Pirelli, Heidfeld, unsigned for 2011, is expected to figure strongly on a number of team managers shopping lists ahead of next season.

"When the opportunity came along to drive with Pirelli that was an important step for me to get back into the car, to get driving and possibly it could give me an advantage for next year," he continued.

Speaking about his experience with Pirelli, Heidfeld believes the Italian firm is making good progress ahead of 2011. "I think they've done a very good job until now because there wasn't much time for them after they basically learned that they would supply tyres for next season.

"So far they have been reliable, no technical problems whatsoever. The grip level is within the range, so it looks positive for now."

As for his own prospects: "I want to perform to the maximum. I want to get the most out of the car but especially for the first weekend it is going to be important to get into a rhythm with the cars and with the tyres as I have not driven this car one kilometre yet. I don't know this year's tyres as they have changed from last year, so that's going to be quite important to just learn things quickly."