Heidfeld under pressure to keep his place

By Alan Baldwin

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (Reuters) - Germany's Nick Heidfeld may have only a handful of races to convince his BMW-Sauber Formula One team to keep him on next season.

Asked on Thursday what the 31-year-old needed to do, team chief Mario Theissen told reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix that Heidfeld needed to "get back to his normal form, which I expect he will do."

With six races to go, Theissen said the Swiss-based team would announce their 2009 driver line-up "between now and the end of the season".

Heidfeld has been outqualified in 11 of the 12 races this season by Polish team mate Robert Kubica and has failed to score in his last two starts for the third-placed team.

The German told a news conference that he was feeling under some pressure but more from himself than the team: "It's pretty clear. If one car finishes on the podium and I finish ninth, nobody needs to tell me anything.

"Obviously it's all about understanding the problems and then changing some things and trying to go quicker," he added.

"I was in a similar situation a while ago this year and I thought I had put that behind me.

"I was a bit surprised to run into a similar problem again in Valencia (the previous European Grand Prix). I knew roughly where to search and I think I've made steps forward but we will find out in the next couple of races."