Vettel: Mercedes steering trick like running with flip-flops

Asked for his thoughts after the Silver Arrows debuted the system on day two of the first test in Barcelona, Vettel admitted he was intrigued by the footage of Lewis Hamilton moving his steering wheel forwards and backwards to adjust the toe angle of his front wheels.

"I've seen it and we talked about it at lunch," he said. "It obviously looks interesting.

"I guess the fact that they're running with it means it's legal. I don't know if it works. I guess there's quite a lot of work to bring it to the track and it's probably not as easy as it looks for the driver to to work with it.

"We will see, for sure it was a novelty for us to see."

Getting his first running in the car on Thursday after missing day one of testing with an illness, Vettel indicated he is sceptical as to whether Mercedes' innovation provides any significant benefit.

“I think it’s much more dependent what you have around it -- so the car you are you’re sitting in, the car you have around that.

“I don’t think that this will give you – I don’t know, maybe I’m underestimating – but I don’t think that this is the ticket to win. I think there’s a lot more elements to building up competitive car.

“But for sure it’s an innovation and we’ll see whether it’s something that everyone has to pick up on or not.”

Not unfamiliar with game-breaking innovations himself, Vettel benefited from Adrian Newey's exhaust blown diffuser during his time at Red Bull, but thinks the nature of the DAS mechanism makes it particularly disconcerting for the driver.

"I think it's quite weird, when you have the feeling all of a sudden, you might have the wheel in your hand," he said.

"I could just imagine it feels weird. But if it's faster and there's no concern you go for the faster option.

"Imagine you're used to running and you put on your running shoes, and then somebody asks you to run with your flip-flops.

"You can also do that, but it just feels very different.

"It's not quite that extreme, but it's just that you add something that's completely new and feels probably strange and weird at first, but obviously if it gives you an advantage, gives you an edge, you can fulfil the task, and you have the capacity to do it and with enough practice, then why not?"