Being the driver with the most points to his name without a victory tells a lot about Nick Heidfeld's Formula One career thus far - 'Steady Eddy' rather than 'Quick Nick'. Like many other young drivers graduating to the elite motor racing category, Heidfeld's talents were backed up by a string of single-seater championship successes, including Formula Ford, German F3 and International F3000.

The German had been a test driver with McLaren since 1998, before he was picked up by Prost for his debut F1 season in 2000, fresh from his comfortable F3000 triumph. After a character-building season with more retirements than finishes, the youngster moved to Sauber for 2001 and immediately impressed scoring a fourth place finish at the season-opener. A podium finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix proved to be the highlight of his season, with five sixth-place finishes the best he could muster over the remaining 14 rounds.

Despite outscoring rookie team-mate Kimi Räikkönen over the course of the season and becoming favourite to replace Mika Hakkinen at McLaren for 2002, Räikkönen was given the nod by the Mercedes-powered team to join David Coulthard, leaving Heidfeld to see out his three-year deal with Sauber.

Despite qualifying impressively, with 13 top-ten grid slots, Heidfeld scored just seven points, with four top-six finishes. Once again he outpaced his team-mate, the unproven rookie Felipe Massa, and retained his seat for 2003. However, even with the new points scoring system awarding points down to eighth, he scored on just three occasions, as the Swiss-based team's unimpressive F1 foray continued. This time around however, he was outscored by team-mate Heinz Harald Frentzen, even though his fellow German also scored on three occasions, including a podium in the United States.

With no seat available at Sauber in 2004, Heidfeld switched to Jordan partnering another rookie, Giorgio Pantano. But with Jordan's halcyon days of 1999 long past, that year's EJ14 was little more than back-marker material, even with reliability not being a major issue. Adding to Heidfeld's pain of 2004 was being outraced by rookie Timo Glock when he took over from Pantano in Canada, as the pair finished line astern in seventh and eighth, albeit only after both Williams and Toyotas had been disqualified. It was Heidfeld's second and last point-scoring race of the year, before receiving a much-needed boost to move to Williams in 2005.

Having won the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix in 2004, Williams was hoping to add to its wins tally, but other than a debut pole position at his home Grand Prix in Germany and a handful of podium finishes, Heidfeld's season was a disappointment, made all the worse when injuries ruled him out of the final five races.

With Williams deciding not to renew his contract, Heidfeld returned to Sauber for 2005. He was joined by BMW in leaving Williams, with the German manufacturer instead throwing their weight behind the newly renamed BMW Sauber team. BMW's influence made an immediate different to the Swiss-based team, and Heidfeld took full advantage, finishing inside the points on ten occasions out of 18 races.

He then went on to enjoy his best F1 season to date in 2007, when team began to blossom, taking three fourth places to begin the year. A second place at the Canadian Grand Prix was his highlight for the season, while collecting one more podium finish on his way to fifth in the championship on 61 points. After beating rookie team-mate Robert Kubica comfortably that year, he was to face a much sterner challenge from the Pole in 2008.

The might of BMW managed to improve once again in 2008, from regular points scores to regular podium finishes, taking the challenge to the Ferraris and McLarens at the very front of the field. Despite taking four podium finishes, Heidfeld's first victory continued to elude him, as team-mate Kubica took his and BMW Sauber's first win at the Canadian Grand Prix. In the end, he trailed Kubica by 15 points in the standings, with Robert coming to within two races of the drivers' title.

Having stopped development of their 2008 machine by mid-season, BMW were hopeful of a proper championship challenge in 2009, and the smart money was on Kubica to provide the magic. However, with a car lacking downforce and pace thanks to the regulations overhaul, Heidfeld's experience came to the fore and managed to outscore Kubica, albeit with only 19 points to Kubica's 17. Failing to progress to Q3 became a regular problem for the once regular podium finishers, and points finishes became as much about luck as anything else.

Nevertheless, things picked up in the final quarter of the year, helped by a major update package brought to the car for the Singapore Grand Prix. Heidfeld was able to increase his points tally three fold during the final six races, culminating in a fifth place at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November.

With no BMW in Formula One next year and continued uncertainty surrounding the Sauber team's new owners Qadbak, Heidfeld's future remains equally uncertain. Although many suggest he will be staying with his current team for 2010, his experience could be a major selling point to one of the four new teams joining the fray in March.

Decade highs:
Pole position at home race in 2005
Second place finish at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix

Decade lows:
Disappointing year at Williams in 2005
Going ten years without a victory

2010s?
As mentioned, Heidfeld is likely to stay on the grid for 2010, and should a top team find a use for him, would be a solid number two to a team-leader. Unless he gets his hand on some top-class machinery in the next few years, his win drought will continue.