View Poll Results: Is KERS An Advantage Or A Disadvantage ?
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Is KERS An Advantage Or A Disadvantage ?
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From: West Henrietta UPSTATE NY
Is KERS An Advantage Or A Disadvantage ?
[b]F1: Is KERS An Advantage Or A Disadvantage?[b]
A cursory assessment tells another tale, but KERS is not responsible for the struggles of some formula one teams this season, Pedro de la Rosa insists.
At the opening two races of 2009, only seven cars used the voluntary energy recovery technology, while fully non-KERS teams including Brawn, Toyota and Williams excelled.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen grappled with his malfunctioning KERS unit throughout the Sepang weekend, and Fernando Alonso believes Renault should reconsider its deployment of the heavy technology prior to China.
But McLaren test driver de la Rosa told Spain's Marca newspaper: "Our problems are in other areas, not KERS.
"If it was just a matter of getting rid of it and going faster, we would have done that already," the Spaniard added.
"We are not using it for commercial reasons or anything like that, it is simply that it makes us faster. The balance of the car is almost identical with or without (KERS). It does not harm us," de la Rosa insisted.
It is also true that, while assessing the wisdom of deploying KERS, Alonso burst up the grid from ninth to third at the start in Malaysia.
Williams is fine-tuning an unique flywheel-based KERS system, and technical director Sam Michael said: "We want it on our car as soon as possible."
PaddockTalk Perspective
Interesting comments from de la Rosa. We've heard exactly the opposite on the effective balance of the car from other teams.
The facts though remain... Even the Red Bull without KERS, and the controversial diffuser are beating McLaren, Ferrari, and BMW. And the highest a KERS car has qualified thus far is 7th.
http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modul...topic=1&catid=1
A cursory assessment tells another tale, but KERS is not responsible for the struggles of some formula one teams this season, Pedro de la Rosa insists.
At the opening two races of 2009, only seven cars used the voluntary energy recovery technology, while fully non-KERS teams including Brawn, Toyota and Williams excelled.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen grappled with his malfunctioning KERS unit throughout the Sepang weekend, and Fernando Alonso believes Renault should reconsider its deployment of the heavy technology prior to China.
But McLaren test driver de la Rosa told Spain's Marca newspaper: "Our problems are in other areas, not KERS.
"If it was just a matter of getting rid of it and going faster, we would have done that already," the Spaniard added.
"We are not using it for commercial reasons or anything like that, it is simply that it makes us faster. The balance of the car is almost identical with or without (KERS). It does not harm us," de la Rosa insisted.
It is also true that, while assessing the wisdom of deploying KERS, Alonso burst up the grid from ninth to third at the start in Malaysia.
Williams is fine-tuning an unique flywheel-based KERS system, and technical director Sam Michael said: "We want it on our car as soon as possible."
PaddockTalk Perspective
Interesting comments from de la Rosa. We've heard exactly the opposite on the effective balance of the car from other teams.
The facts though remain... Even the Red Bull without KERS, and the controversial diffuser are beating McLaren, Ferrari, and BMW. And the highest a KERS car has qualified thus far is 7th.
http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modul...topic=1&catid=1
For me I'm in the not sure yet group. I ;love the idea of the technology and I hope it can be developed so it is more reliable and more teams choose to use it, but I do have to admit, the teams not using it are clearly not looking to be at a disadvantage right now. But if the systems improve a lot, those using it now are going to be way ahead of the others in their development programs.
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From: Toronto
Not sure yet...
Added horsepower - on the advantage side.
Questionable reliability at this time - on the disadvantage side.
Car balance - on the disadvantage side.
If they fix the reliability and balance quickly, my vote moves to advantage.
Added horsepower - on the advantage side.
Questionable reliability at this time - on the disadvantage side.
Car balance - on the disadvantage side.
If they fix the reliability and balance quickly, my vote moves to advantage.
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As with any new technology there is a gestation period while the bugs are worked out. As of this moment the weight is a disadvantage, once the system is working as well as it can it will probably be an advantage.
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From: La Habra
I think the straight-line benefit was shown in a few passes but the added complexity and effect on handling, maybe also braking, looks like a net loss so far. I suspect the next generation of KERS will close the gap or fully exceed non-KERS cars, assuming they keep the power differential constant.
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From: Drexel Hill, PA
your poll is a bit confusing. i'm assuming "yes" means its an advantage and "no" a disadvantage. i say currently it's a disadvantage. i agree with Matrix' points. as the season progresses it could become an advantage though with further development.
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From: NYC to SoCal
if you saw the start of alonso and kimi at the malaysian GP then yes there is an advantage. currently with the power bump plus the weight of the kers, no. we won't see the full advantage of kers until next year when every team runs it and it gets more power than the 80hp...
