The Kubica KERS

Still miles away from the next season and the teams are putting their KERS powered cars on test tracks more and more with some reported good success. However, a few things of note are beginning to peek their heads up. First is Ferrari who have admittedly gone over budget on their KERS development in a time where cost cutting is on everyone’s minds.

If Ferrari mean they are over their KERS development budget then they can justify the spending to the media. If Ferrari mean they are over their projected overall budget because of KERS then they are spending when they should be saving. Either way it sounds like KERS costs are climbing (surprise surprise).

The other news on KERS comes from the never shy for words Robert Kubica. The whole idea of KERS is to store heat energy from the brakes and then have it available for quick bursts of power. Of the drivers who have tested KERS equipped cars this fall, most seem to agree that it does give a substantial burst when they press the button, but it is heavy and adds weight to the car. Put a bigger driver in the car and is their any gain or value to overall lap time?

Robert Kubica is one of those bigger drivers and he isn’t holding back when he says a KERS equipped car or even a KERS ready car will be a hindrance to his performance. Again, the unit is heavy and even without the unit, the extra space needed to house it adds weight to the car.

“The weight of KERS is quite influential, especially when it comes to weight distribution, so it is limiting me quite a lot.”

If this is indeed the case, then the decision to run a KERS car or not should be an easy one and teams should never be forced to use it. Robert Kubica could be significantly slower due to the KERS weight and his and in affect be penalized for running a system intended to add some extra speed at crucial moments.

Of course their is still a few months from Melbourne and a lot of work yet to be done on the KERS systems, but if weight distribution were to remain the same as it is now and I were Robert Kubica, I would choose a car completely free of any KERS modification.