Felipe Massa admits he's surprised that Nick Heidfeld had to settle for a test driver role at Mercedes GP.

With BMW withdrawing from Formula One last season and the team's ownership reverting back to Peter Sauber, Heidfeld was left without a 2010 race-seat.

And although the German, who made his debut back in 2000 with Prost, was confident of finding a drive, it wasn't long before driver announcements were being made and Heidfeld's name was conspicuous by its absence.

Mercedes GP came to his rescue, offering the German a test driver role to complete their all-German line-up of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

Massa, though, says he is surprised Heidfeld was left out, especially looking at some of the names on this year's grid.

"Why has no one offered my former team-mate Nick Heidfeld a good race-seat?" he told Swiss newspaper Blick.

"If I look at this year's field in such a way, then he belongs in Formula One - not as a test driver."