FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[darwin dali]

BMW Sauber team boss Mario Theissen has dismissed suggestions that electing not to use a KERS energy-recovery system next year might be the most competitive option.

Teams can voluntarily use the innovation next year, where energy captured under braking can be released by the drivers in the form of a 'boost button' under acceleration.

But with the devices likely to weigh nearly 40kg, it has been suggested that some teams are considering whether they would gain a competitive advantage by simply saving the extra weight and living without the boost in power.

"It is extra weight, but it is an exciting technology because we can apply it to road cars," Theissen is quoted as saying by Spain's Diario AS newspaper.

"I don't think the cars (running KERS) will be slower, because every lap we will have about 85hp extra, perhaps for seven seconds," he added.


BMW driver Robert Kubica, however, believes the arrival of KERS next year will put a higher than normal premium on weight.

"To have a light car will cost the teams a lot of money," he speculated. "It will maybe even be more dangerous because the parts will be lighter and more fragile and I'm worried that some teams will chose light drivers because it's more advantageous."

"I don't think this is the way to go," he added. "I've put my views to the FIA, also the GPDA, but I think their answer was quite negative, but we will see."



All this might make Honda's flirt with diminutive Danica Patrick look like a rather smart move...

[EwanM]

BMW Sauber team boss Mario Theissen has dismissed suggestions that electing not to use a KERS energy-recovery system next year might be the most competitive option.

Teams can voluntarily use the innovation next year, where energy captured under braking can be released by the drivers in the form of a 'boost button' under acceleration.

But with the devices likely to weigh nearly 40kg, it has been suggested that some teams are considering whether they would gain a competitive advantage by simply saving the extra weight and living without the boost in power.

"It is extra weight, but it is an exciting technology because we can apply it to road cars," Theissen is quoted as saying by Spain's Diario AS newspaper.

"I don't think the cars (running KERS) will be slower, because every lap we will have about 85hp extra, perhaps for seven seconds," he added.


BMW driver Robert Kubica, however, believes the arrival of KERS next year will put a higher than normal premium on weight.

"To have a light car will cost the teams a lot of money," he speculated. "It will maybe even be more dangerous because the parts will be lighter and more fragile and I'm worried that some teams will chose light drivers because it's more advantageous."

"I don't think this is the way to go," he added. "I've put my views to the FIA, also the GPDA, but I think their answer was quite negative, but we will see."



All this might make Honda's flirt with diminutive Danica Patrick look like a rather smart move...

LOL like the term flirt. But they won't hire her as a race driver for the next few years at least.

I thought they were compulsory for next season? That's a pretty dumb rule, although I suppose with such a jump in regs next year it will be costly for smaller teams to adapt fast enough.

Mind you, F1 is never about technical equality now is it? If you want that go watch GP2

[Rivelution]

All this might make Honda's flirt with diminutive Danica Patrick look like a rather smart move...

Thats a good one

[texasmr2]

Atleast they will have the option to run them next year but I think it would be best to defer any judgements until the teams actually get to start testing them.

[Kiwi_Chris]

it owuld be interesting if some teams were running it and some wernt at the start of the season

[texasmr2]

it owuld be interesting if some teams were running it and some wernt at the start of the season

I think you will get you wish atleast for the first 1/4 of the season but who knows?

[Jensonb]

Well they're just going to have to make something else lighter to compensate.

[texasmr2]

Well they're just going to have to make something else lighter to compensate.

Which should not be to hard as the FIA has been tring to slow the car's down for the last 10+ years and a track record was broken today ! So where there is a will there is a way!

[KyrosV]

thats rubbish!

they add extra weight to the car so it weighs in at 600 or whatever it is now, obvi they will replace that extra ballast with the KERS or probs the FIA will enforce it by upping the Weight regs

[texasmr2]

thats rubbish!

they add extra weight to the car so it weighs in at 600 or whatever it is now, obvi they will replace that extra ballast with the KERS or probs the FIA will enforce it by upping the Weight regs

Good insight.

[darwin dali]

thats rubbish!

they add extra weight to the car so it weighs in at 600 or whatever it is now, obvi they will replace that extra ballast with the KERS or probs the FIA will enforce it by upping the Weight regs

You totally miss the point: by having this extra weight stationary in the KERS, the teams have less movable ballast/weight to play with for car setup. Having a light weight driver gives you some of that back and provides you with more flexibility. So, it's NOT rubbish!

[Rivelution]

thats rubbish!

they add extra weight to the car so it weighs in at 600 or whatever it is now, obvi they will replace that extra ballast with the KERS or probs the FIA will enforce it by upping the Weight regs

You totally miss the point: by having this extra weight stationary in the KERS, the teams have less movable ballast/weight to play with for car setup. Having a light weight driver gives you some of that back and provides you with more flexibility. So, it's NOT rubbish!

Yeah but the heavier drivers are at a disadvantage, which is rubbish. The last thing F1 needs is to have their drivers like horse jockey's.

[przemo]

Yeah but the heavier drivers are at a disadvantage, which is rubbish. The last thing F1 needs is to have their drivers like horse jockey's.

Do you think Kubica would be so fast if he was 10 kilos heavier ?

BMW driver Robert Kubica, however, believes the arrival of KERS next year will put a higher than normal premium on weight.

"To have a light car will cost the teams a lot of money," he speculated. "It will maybe even be more dangerous because the parts will be lighter and more fragile and I'm worried that some teams will chose light drivers because it's more advantageous."

"I don't think this is the way to go," he added. "I've put my views to the FIA, also the GPDA, but I think their answer was quite negative, but we will see."

I can't agree with Robert here, because IMO skill would still count more compared to weight. Unless he thinks the drivers would be forced to go on a diet to keep their job, which I don't see happening.

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

McLaren Chief Executive Martin Whitmarsh has refused to rule out speculation that the Mercedes-powered team is intending to attack the 2009 world championship with two distinct car designs.

It is already clear that the voluntary advent of KERS technology next year will result in significant weight gains for F1 cars.

"The simple fact is you only need to be 12 kilograms overweight, at which point KERS becomes irrelevant anyway and you take it off," Force India technical boss Mike Gascoyne told GPWeek.

Whitmarsh said considerations of ride-height, wheelbase and centre of gravity are also important.

"I think the challenge to the engineers is to develop a KERS system that can be run at every circuit and give a lap time advantage, but it isn't easy," he said.

Whitmarsh would only say that teams "are having to consider a whole range of options," but rumours suggest that designing two cars - perhaps with different wheelbases - is among them.


He explained: "We're thinking about lots of different things, but we're working hard to have the best solutions for every circuit.

"As you would imagine, just as any F1 team, (McLaren) isn't going to show its hand on what it is doing, but inevitably you've got to try and cover all the bases."

Gascoyne, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions that KERS can immediately give Formula One the right to claim it is a 'green' sport.

"We'll be throwing batteries away after each race and all that sort of thing - is it particularly green? Well, no," he admitted.

[Jensonb]

Oh look, another unexpected result counter to the cost-cutting initiative: let's design and build 2 separate cars.