BMW-Sauber star Nick Heidfeld proves he is right back on top of his game by producing a flawless drive to the runner-up spot in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in appalling weather conditions.

Nick Heidfeld proved he is back with a bang in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, driving an 'intelligent' race in treacherous conditions to seal his third rostrum finish of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship.

The experienced German has come under fire for much of the current campaign for failing to live up to the pace of team-mate Robert Kubica, who prior to this weekend had out-qualified Heidfeld eight-nil, and led him by 16 points in the title standings.

Not only did the man from Mönchengladbach get the better of Kubica for the first time on a Saturday afternoon this year at Silverstone - seemingly finally getting his head around the tyre-warming woes that have so badly hampered his efforts thus far - but he was also considerably faster in the race too.

While the Pole spun off two-thirds of the way through, Heidfeld mastered the conditions with seasoned aplomb to charge up through the order - on a couple of occasions spectacularly passing two cars at once, to the delight of the enthralled crowd - and re-affirm that 'Quick Nick' is back in the hunt.

"It was a good race," the 31-year-old affirmed. "I am happy with second place, because today it was the best I could achieve. Qualifying went well and in the race we did everything right.

"Obviously it was crucial to make the right tyre decisions. At the first stop we were wondering if we should stay with the used set of inters, but luckily we then decided on new tyres. We were expecting a small shower, but when I drove down Hanger Straight and saw a black wall in front of me I thought I should expect more than that!

"The most difficult moments in the race were when cars were overtaking me who had been lapped, but were just on better tyres for the conditions at that time. There was so much water and I couldn't see where it was lying. Once before Abbey I almost spun, but just managed to keep the car on the track."

Heidfeld's drive also drew warm words of praise from both BMW Motorsport Director Dr Mario Theissen - who has been a staunch supporter of his countryman throughout his struggles this year - and the Munich and Hinwil-based concern's technical director Willy Rampf.

"It was a very dramatic race," Theissen acknowledged, "which was dictated by the weather conditions. In some periods of the race the lap times varied by as much as ten seconds depending on the tyre choice. With Nick our strategy worked out perfectly. He performed very strongly and carried out some spectacular overtaking manoeuvres.

"After things have not gone his way recently, I am very happy for him; he climbed from fifth on the grid to second with a good mixture of intelligent racing and fighting spirit. For him it is the third second place so far this year, and for our team the seventh podium."

"That was a tyre lottery," added Rampf, "as there was a permanent question over which ones we should use. The critical period was when the drivers were fighting very hard to keep the cars on-track after the heavy rain. Nick managed to do this very well.

"Nick deserved his place on the podium as he drove a very smart race. Congratulations on a great performance and compliments to the pit-stop crew, because we made the tyre choice decisions at very short notice."