Auto123.com - Helping you drive happy

F1: Nick Heidfeld also worried about 'piano' steering wheels

|
Get the best interest rate
Khatir Soltani
From GMM

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.

Steering wheel of the MP4-26 McLaren - Photo McLaren


"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, Nick 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.


Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada