Formula One news

Williams undecided about KERS

The Williams team has not yet reached a decision as to when it will debut its Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) this season. The British team, holders of nine constructors' championship trophies, enjoyed an encouraging start to the season in Australia by finishing on top of all three practice sessions and eventually leaving Albert Park with three points, courtesey of Nico Rosberg.

Sam Michael, Williams technical director

"KERS is progressing well and we want to race it as soon as possible," said technical director Sam Michael. "We've got a couple of problems with it and we're just working through those problems; I'd love to be able to say when we are going to race it, but all I can do is say we've got about ten people working on it flat out to bring it to races as soon as we can." The device works by capturing kinetic energy build up during braking, and using it to give drivers an estimated 80 horsepower extra for 6.6 seconds per lap.

However, whereas other teams are storing the energy in their cars' batteries, the Williams system is unique in that it uses a flywheel (a device in the engine which enables it to run more smoothly, by allowing its pistons to move together easier and therefore create more regular gear changes, theoretically prolonging the life of the engine). Using this data as a guideline, if the Williams system is reliable we could see a significant boost in the team's performance once the team elects to use KERS.

"KERS is a differentiator and, if the other teams (Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and BMW
with Heidfeld only) didn't have that, then they wouldn't be in the top ten," Michael added. "The sooner we can get it the better."

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