F1: Williams To Pursue KERS In 2010

WILLIAMS F1 IS SET to again come into conflict with the Formula One Teams’ Association after announcing it will use KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) next season.

The increasingly prohibitive cost of developing the energy recovery systems prompted FOTA teams, including Williams, to agree not to use the device in 2010.

However, Williams technical director Sam Michael has revealed his team is continuing to develop KERS for next season despite the agreement, claiming it is vital Formula One enhances its green credentials.

Michael said: “We fully support the use of KERS and always have done. Given the environmental and sustainability pressures that Formula 1 is going to face in the future, KERS is a positive step for the sport.

“It's in next year's regulations, so we're continuing developing our system with a view to using it on next year's FW32.”

An abbreviation of Kinetic Energy Recovery System, KERS is a device which allows a car to store kinetic energy expended during braking for use as a power boost throughout a race.

Current F1 regulations limit the power of KERS to 60kw (80bhp) and a storage capacity of 400kj, while it can only be used for nearly seven seconds each lap.

After initially proving to be inefficient in the early portion of the season, a number of teams, including Renault and BMW Sauber, abandoned the use of KERS systems and instead favoured the use of ballast.

The trend was accelerated by the success of Red Bull Racing and Brawn GP, which claimed the first nine events of the season without the system.

But following continued development by Ferrari and McLaren, KERS has proven to be a useful weapon off the start line and in defending track position, propelling the pair to wins at Belgium and Hungary.