Zoom Massive investment into KERS for 2009

With the voluntary introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) next season, the F1 teams have been hard at work developing the new technology. Estimates of the costs incurred vary wildly but it is safe to assume that most of the top teams in the sport have spent many tens of millions of dollars each as they get to grips with the systems. The rules on the introduction of KERS for next year remain unchanged following today's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, but this could well change for the 2010 season. "In the short term, KERS is part of the 2009 regulations, but is not compulsory," a statement from the FIA read. "For 2010 FOTA is considering proposals for a standard KERS system." The FIA is awaiting such proposals, but given the vast sums of money poured into the technology already, such a move to a standard system could be seen as a failure of the original proposals which were aimed to make Formula One something of a test bed for future road car development. Any standard component will undoubtedly reduce costs to the teams, but in the case of KERS this effectively results in the closure of ongoing independent research and development by the manufacturer-backed teams, something that each was keen to develop for eventual inclusion in their road cars. The notion of developing new ‘road-relevant’ technology in F1, which could afterwards be applied to everyday vehicles, was an important part of the KERS development process. However, despite the possible standardisation in Formula One, and in view of the obvious potential the technology offers, development work will surely continue in each manufacturer's road car-based engineering divisions.

“The involvement of F1 in research into engines, electronics and the forthcoming regenerative braking systems will drive such developments forward and speed up the introduction of environmental technologies which will filter back to mass production passenger cars and be of great benefit to the environment and consumers," Honda Team Principal Ross Brawn stated in October.

Earl ALEXANDER / D.B.
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