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KERS on F1 agenda for 2011

SEPANG, Malaysia - Formula One teams are in broad agreement about a return of the KERS power boost system for 2011, though the device needs to become cheaper so that smaller teams can afford it.

Team principals met with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone at this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix to discuss possible regulation changes, and the reintroduction of KERS was high on the agenda for 2011.

“There’s general agreement it should have a place in Formula One,” Williams team principal Sir Frank Williams said Saturday.

KERS was used in 2009 but scrapped for 2010 on a consensus decision among teams. However it was never taken out of the F1 rules and could return with a simple agreement at the Formula One Teams Association.

The device stores in a battery the energy created by braking, and F1 cars were allowed to use that energy to provide an acceleration boost for a few seconds each lap. Those cars fitted with KERS could overtake more readily, and in turn were harder to overtake.

However, most teams found development of the technology too expensive and difficult to integrate into the chassis, so only Ferrari and McLaren used it regularly in 2009.

Asked about the terms of a reintroduction in 2011, team chief Frank Williams said: “I believe it should be compulsory or not at all.”

“It’s heavy work unless you’re a manufacturer and several manufacturers didn’t do it in the end, and it wasn’t relevant to the development of their own motor cars. It’s appropriate if it’s not too expensive.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was also sensitive about the cost of bringing back KERS, particularly for the new independently owned teams.

“Formula One has to be sustainable for a minimum 10 teams and hopefully 13,” Whitmarsh said. “We have to decide the speed we reintroduce it and whether its affordable.

“A lot of the teams couldn’t afford KERS next year, the majority couldn’t. We need to find something that is affordable.”

Williams said the integration of the large and heavy KERS unit in 2011 would be even more problematical than it was in 2009.

“The drivers fuel tank is three times what it was two years ago, and if they want to put KERS in there, you’d have your car longer than a London bus,” he said.