Three races in, Formula One teams already abandoning KERS
Apparently, hybrid drive systems aren't catching on in Formula 1 this year. The new 2009 rules allowed, but did not require the addition of hybrid systems called KERS or kinetic energy recovery systems. Over the course of the 2008 season, teams spent time developing and testing KERS with varying degrees of success. The idea was to provide teams a way of boosting performance to compensate for losses that came from limiting engine speeds and require the engines to last longer. At the opening race in Australia, only seven of twenty cars on the grid had KERS installed. It was thought that as the cars moved to the faster tracks later this year, more would install KERS to take advantage of the acceleration boost.
As the cars hit the track in Shanghai China this week, teams are actually dropping KERS and no more than five are thought to be running with it. Grand Prix Drivers Association director Mark Weber calls the whole situation a "bit of a mess" and wouldn't be surprised to see it abandoned. Both the Ferrari and Renault teams have removed their systems since they add weight and the performance difference is not enough to compensate. The limited testing available in 2009 also makes it difficult to sort out the complicated systems.
Even on road cars, the additional hardware is just one component of the extra cost of hybrids. A significant amount of testing and calibration work must be done to make the systems behave seamlessly. Just adding hybrid technology to a car is no simple matter.
[Source: F1-Live]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lad 4:07PM (4/18/2009)
I believe in order to make KERS work, the time allowed for its use must not be limited. Carrying 80 lbs in the turns that do nothing, gives the non-KERS car an advantage when they can add weight using a enhancement device like a diffuser.
KERS will be useful when it can be used without limiting its time of use, it can be especially useful when accelerating out of the corners.
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Steve 5:39PM (4/18/2009)
Just more proof that hybrid technology less efficient than straight gas, electric, NGV, or hydrogen. Hybrid technology is a gimmick, not serious science.
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DaveD 7:22PM (4/18/2009)
Steve,
That's not true at all. They intentionally limited the KERS systems so that they could only be used part of the time. How would a straight gasoline engine compete if it was only allowed to be in use for 6 seconds at a time and only on certain parts of the track?
It's a silly set of rules because they were afraid it would be an unfair advantage. Last year, they allowed a hybrid to run in a 24 hour "Le Mans" style race and it wiped out every other car in the field:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/16/hybrid-toyota-supra-wins-tokachi-24-hrs/
If you have to limit a technology to allow other cars to compete...that's hardly a gimick.
why not the LS2LS7? 10:36PM (4/18/2009)
That hybrid win was in an equalized series. It is most likely the car was given a more advantageous equalization than the other cars.
gorr 8:59PM (4/18/2009)
I said it 2 months ago that they will drop this system. This system is useless, costly, complicated, unstable, weighty and completely innadapted to actual ice-gasoline formula one racing. This is more or less the same thing as a prius or a volt and this system oppose performance, they just tolerate hypermilling driving technics because it's conceive that way and is dangeurous if driven at a spirited pace, look at a similar car, the tesla, it broke when it was driven fast on a track by the tv program journalist jeremy clarkson of top gear. These hypermiling cars have to go very very slow because they use battery that have to charge slow and drain slow too. So in heavy-duty driving or usage like trucks or when climbing a hill they can broke easilly.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/12/video-red-bull-racing-preview-of-its-new-kers-equipped-f1-car/
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/01/30/ferrari-tested-at-least-three-different-kers-configurations-in-f/
Formula one for me is becomming wortless. Politics driven by incompetants nazis europeen gay leaders is eating this sport, only billions now paid by tierd world contry where 99% of their peoples do not know how to drive is driving them. They will end-up like gm very soon as soon as peoples will learn that this is a money gimmick with out-dated car technology like carbon fibers, careful aerodynamics, race tire technology, high-revving high power small v8 ice of 850 h.p in a lightweight body with computerized fast acting suspention.
All this technology is now out-dated and the championship is tricked just to make short term money speculation with tricked results. Nascar and formula one will dissapear soon because all speculative business always end abrutly when the crook cash their money and leave for switzerland, bahamas or saudi-arabia. The kers gimmick was just there to ruin the unaware teams and sponsors. Don't listen the chinese race tonight, it's tricked for money.
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why not the LS2LS7? 10:35PM (4/18/2009)
I'm not surprised, it seemed like a loser from day 1.
I'm really shocked that F1 made the teams spend so much money just to get the equivalent to push to pass. F1 seems to want to copy ideas from Champ/IRL (stripes on alternate compound tires, limited time power boost, rear basket config that allows following closer), but they seem obsessed with obfuscating that they are doing so.
If they had allowed real push to pass, they could more easily have scaled up and down the amount of boost allowed (even depending on the track) in case it wasn't enough boost to be effective.
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Avro 10:36PM (4/18/2009)
gorr, that is first of all a extremely poorly worded and thought out rant. "nazi european gay leaders". what are you, 12 years old?
Ferrari dropped KERS because of a malfunction that took Kimi Raikkonen out of the race in Malaysia. Renault dropped it because, having trouble get good times in, they figured they would try it out, as their implementation of it might not be beneficial.
Debating the benefits of lugging 30+ lbs of battery around, and the reliability drawbacks of a complex component is quite fair, especially when it can only be used 6.6s per lap. But this restriction was put into place as a way to not favour teams that can afford expensive R&D like Ferrari and McLaren over the smaller teams. It might not have been as successful as the organisers would have hoped, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is something that is kept for future years. After all, this is the first time energy recovery systems are used and there is surely room for improvement that will be used in future iterations.
All in all, it is somewhat of a disappointment that it's not proving to be as much as an advantage as it could be, but then again, some of that may be because of the strict rules regulating its use. I believe we'll see a different kind of implementation of the rules for the next season, but I would definitely not rule out KERS for this one yet.
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olhat 7:39AM (4/19/2009)
Adding 40kg of weight is not a problem in itself because the cars do have a minimum weight. The cars are a lot lighter than that. The teams fill the difference with ballast to fine tune the balance of the car.
Adding KERS limits the scope of ballast play quite a lot and thus lowers the curve speeds. The limited 6,6 secs of time per lap to use the KERS doesn't obviously compensate fully for slightly slower curve speeds. The teams surely will learn to overcome this with time. I would guess one way to do this could be to use the batteries as ballast pieces but that may not be enough without the rules allowing for more use time or more effect.
Because the new diffusers and torrential rains have also been throwing the traditional top dogs in distress during these first three races of the season, it is even more difficult for anybody to exactly pinpoint the effect KERS is having on things right now.
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Throwback 9:29AM (4/19/2009)
Racing is about winning. There has been no advantage to KERS, I am surprised any of the teams are still using it. Perhaps more testing will improve the system, but with what it costs to run a F1 team, winning now will always be a priority.
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randomdude 10:06AM (4/19/2009)
Ferrari removed KERS because it was a safety risk. The car was even slower without KERS. They want to reimplement it as soon as possible.
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gorr 4:05PM (4/19/2009)
Money is their only concern, it made their show as it is only because they appear competant and they are utterly incompetant and they always make win ferraris because ferraris have a marketing impact. the real sport side of this limp show represent 1% of their concerns and stupid spectators is told lies about these stupid polluting cars that worth nothing. It's only a high financial gimmick, they sucks. Kers is a joke proving that it's the politics that drive this show, engineers working for high financial folks cannot work at their best. Everything in this have been bouth by big sponsors and the driver are only making a show. To piss off honda that invested millions in the past they make win brawn grand-prix that bouth the honda team for few money. Everything is tricked, only money speak. Nascar is the same gimmick with change of names every weeks.
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nmt 2:23AM (4/20/2009)
KERS in Forumla 1 is unfolding just as I had predicted. Hybrid ICE-electric powered cars are no more practical and worth while in open wheel racing as it is in a mid-sized sedan. You always end up sacrificing something in order to get the power/fuel efficiency "gains".
I find it humorous that commentators here are making up idiotic conspiracy theories for why KERS is failing miserably. This sounds familiar. It's no different than the conspiracy that the automakers are involved in some huge conspiracy with the oil companies to keep cars ICE powered.
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Jeff 10:51AM (4/20/2009)
How can anybody draw conclusions about this systems after the teams have had one decent race to try it out in? As if they'd have it optimized right away for the first race...
nmt 10:58AM (4/20/2009)
Because the FIA banned in season testing. How can they optimize it except for on Friday Practice Sessions? That's not nearly enough time. If KERS has any hope at all, and I am not convinced that it does, they would have to allow further testing.
davido 1:33PM (4/20/2009)
@nmt and Throwback
This is a new technology. According to the teams it is also a very expensive one. Last season was like every season in F1 insofar as cost was concerned. A great deal of money was spent on developing and testing the current cars, enough for Hamilton to say that the car he drove at the end of the season was over a second/lap quicker than it was at the beginning. In the mean time teams were developing this years cars with new aero packages, new tires and KERS. In the meantime, the economy collapsed.
My guess is that no one had the all the money they needed to develop this year's cars and Kers was the most complicated part of that. And since everyone has had to worry about the diffuser issue since pre-season testing showed how quick the teams that have the Brawn type diffuser are, there goes more money.
We won't know how effective KERS will be until it is fully developed and we may never know if it's use remains restricted. There is a tremendous amount of energy to recapture every time an F1 car brakes. Cars running KERS have an estimated 80 horsepower more to use compared to cars that don't. Every exit from every corner would be quicker in a KERS car IF they were permitted to use it. They aren't. That's everything to do with the rules, NOT the technology.
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