Today, F1 Fanatic has an article on the matter of KERS protection for marshals, thereby reminding us of the potential hazards inherent in strapping such systems on to F1 cars. Team managers have assured us that they will only use KERS once it has been made safe and the majority of work over the winter has been directed towards this goal - without too much success it would seem, judging from the fact that only BMW want to go ahead with the introduction of KERS for the 2009 season.
Robert Kubica in the BMW F1.09
So we head into the new season in a very confused state, uncertain whether any of the teams will use KERS from the beginning, still wondering just how much advantage (if any) it will be to have a working system and aware that there must be some safety concerns if the FIA deems it necessary to introduce protective clothing for marshals. From being a sop to the environmentalists, KERS has expanded to become one of the biggest headaches in F1, its development costs making a mockery of moves to cut costs and an unwanted addition to the hazards of the sport.
Even the guy who insisted on the introduction of KERS, Max Mosley, is now mumbling about outlawing the electrical systems, surely an admission that the cost of making them safe far outweighs any benefit they might be to motor racing. And the whole idea of the new technology being relevant to road cars is made nonsensical by Toyota's assertion that their existing systems, already in use on production cars, are not transferable to F1; they have had to start from scratch in their KERS design for the sport.
With Mosley indicating that F1 will have a standard KERS system in 2010, one wonders why any of the teams is continuing to work on a system for this year - it makes no sense at all that so much money should be spent on something that will have to be thrown away at the end of the year. Since all of the teams are doubtful that their cars will have KERS installed for the opening GP, they are not expecting that their system will be used even for as long as a season. Is it not insane to be putting so much into such doomed technology?
The problem is, of course, that every team is terrified of the possibility that KERS might prove to be an advantage in the races; they have to be in a position to answer any competitor's attempt to get ahead by the use of a working system. And so we enter the ridiculous scenario as it is at present - money being thrown at so dubious an addition to the sport while costs are hacked back in other areas.
It is ironic that it is the last independent team in F1 that holds the ace in this particular game of chance. Unlike all the rest, Williams opted for a flywheel-based system rather than the electrical solution preferred by the rest. And, if Mosley follows through with his intention to ban electrical systems, Sir Frank will have the only working alternative. He has already bought the company that designed and makes the system and so will be in very strong position when Max comes looking for a standard system in 2010.
The fly in that particular ointment is that Williams' survival through 2009 is not guaranteed. With their main sponsor, Royal Bank of Scotland, in desperate trouble and almost certain to cut payments to the team as a result, Williams remains in serious financial difficulties. It could well end up as a life-or-death struggle to get through to the potential lifeline offered by their flywheel KERS.
It is too late now to abort the silly idea of KERS in F1; BMW are quite right to expect that they reap the benefit of any advantage going as recompense for their greater expenditure of time, energy and money and their resultant lead in the application of KERS. But the whole sorry tale does illustrate once again the muddled and incompetent leadership of the FIA and its President in particular. They foresaw none of the problems that have become apparent, presenting it to F1 as the magic technology that would save the sport from the evil intent of the environmentalists. As I have pointed out in previous posts (listed below), it has been nothing of the sort, proving ineffectual in deflecting criticism from the greenies and hobbling the sport's drive to cut costs.
Mosley and KERS
KERS Bites Back
A Brief Ponder on KERS