Heidfeld also worried about ’piano’ steering wheels

"Every year the steering wheel is getting worse and worse"

By GMM

21 March 2011 - 08:04
Heidfeld also worried about 'piano

Nick Heidfeld has become the latest F1 driver to highlight the potential "danger" of the sport’s new rules for 2011.

Concerned that the combination of KERS and adjustable rear wings is like fiddling with a mobile phone on a motorway, GPDA director Sebastian Vettel has said he cannot rule out a driver strike.

"Every year the steering wheel is getting worse and worse," German veteran Heidfeld, referring to the number of buttons and functions on the steering wheels, told the news magazine Focus.

A former chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, Heidfeld likened the steering wheels of today to "playing piano" in the cockpit.

"We are at the limit now," he admitted, adding that there is a risk the technological advances "are becoming dangerous, therefore we have informed the FIA".

Explaining the problem, he said drivers are "more or less simultaneously" operating KERS and the adjustable wings, bluntly adding that the "fuck-up potential is extremely high" because yet "another eye" is kept on the lights that indicate whether the buttons can be pressed.

Nico Rosberg said he is less worried.

"We have to keep in mind that, under certain circumstances, there is a safety risk in principle, but I think that the adjustable rear wing for overtaking is right," the Mercedes driver told Auto Bild.

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