Who Is Using Kers??

[goodf1fun]

Today i watch the free practise..i did not realise someone use kers...
Did someone use it? did it give any advantage to those who are ahead?

[Dave B]

Hopefully the FIA will force the teams to disclose this before a session/race, and FOM will introduce a simple graphic for the TV coverage to show when it's being used.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Today i watch the free practise..i did not realise someone use kers...
Did someone use it? did it give any advantage to those who are ahead?

Reportedly Heidfeld used his on the back straight, but looking at the BMW's placing it didn't seem to help an awful lot

[ioan]

To little grip available for now in order to take full advantage of KERS.

[AndyL]

According to JA (http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/melbourne-blog-day-2/) Fernando was using KERS in short 1-second bursts coming out of corners (but thinks that in the race it will be more used on the straights for overtaking).

[jjanicke]

To little grip available for now in order to take full advantage of KERS.

How do you know that? References please!!

[UltimateDanGTR]

apparently 3 and a half teams are using KERS this weekend, excpet guess what, I cant remember which 3! I can remember the half, Heidfeld is using them and Kubica isnt, but Kubica had the better times in the Practice sessions.

[jens]

In practice none of the 3,5 KERS teams were too impressive. I wonder if such situation persists, then we must concluce that concentrating on KERS development has meant a bit of a too much compromise on overall car performance? Not much more left to find out...

[LiamM]

Ferrari definately were using it, the cameras on BBC showed a zoomed in view of one of the steering wheels (can't remember which driver) and the KERS dial was turned up to what if I remember right was '+3', the batteries must have been charging/charged, but can't say if they were using it or not

The 3.5 should be

McLaren
Ferrari
Renault
BMW - Heidfeld

[Sonic]

The commentary was complaining that there was no way to see who was using the system/when. It is very annoying that even though we know who has the system we have no idea at what points they are hitting the go juice.

[pettersolberg29]

apparently 3 and a half teams are using KERS this weekend, excpet guess what, I cant remember which 3! I can remember the half, Heidfeld is using them and Kubica isnt, but Kubica had the better times in the Practice sessions.

Kubica had better times in practise did he?

Have another look my friend - Heidfeld beat him in both P1 and P2.

[LiamM]

Kubica had better times in practise did he?

Have another look my friend - Heidfeld beat him in both P1 and P2.

Heidfeld was sitting in P20 for a lot of the second session tho

[pettersolberg29]

His longer runs were more consistent and faster than Robert's though. In fact Nick's long stints were among the top 5 or 6 I think.

[Valve Bounce]

Maybe KERS is cursed. :p :

[jens]

For me one of the biggest mysteries of the beginning of the season is that how is it possible that private teams (BGP, RBR, Williams) have basically owned well-funded factory teams? I see no other possible explanation that KERS is one of the biggest technical farces in F1 I have ever known. Factory teams were mostly those, who concentrated on KERS development, wasting a lot of time and resources to really adapt the system well into the car only to turn up at races with inferior car. I wonder if Vasselon's claims like with KERS you may gain 0,3 seconds per lap, but lose a tenth in every corner, really hold water?

[christophulus]

The commentary was complaining that there was no way to see who was using the system/when. It is very annoying that even though we know who has the system we have no idea at what points they are hitting the go juice.

They did do some onscreen graphics in Raikkonen's car showing when he was boosting, but that only works when they switch to the in-car feed. Then again, with the A1GP it always looks messy having the list of cars down the side of the screen which I suppose would be the only way of indicating who was doing what.

Or some sort of flashing light on top of the car? Should mess up the aero nicely :p

[UltimateDanGTR]

Kubica had better times in practise did he?

Have another look my friend - Heidfeld beat him in both P1 and P2.

Yes, its official: I AM GOING MAD!!!!

sorry for that dreadful mistake, darn it.....

[dj_bytedisaster]

That's what I was able to work out so far.

1. Both McLarens seem to use it. In one team radio of Hamilton the engineer told him that the Kers is fully charged. But putting a 6 second booster on a crap car is about as usefull as a snooze button on a smoke alarm ( (c) J. Clarkson)

2. Both Ferraris use it, was visible on the telemetry graphics. By the looks of it, the system seems to recharge surprizingly quickly. But it didn't help the Ferraris at all, they are a bit off the pace.

3. Only Heidfeld uses it in the BMW. Kubica outright refuses to have it installed in his car and by the looks of it, he seems to be right.

The morale of the story, the whole KERS malarkey is a shambles, you might as well bin it. What surprizes me even more, all the usual top teams (Merc, Ferrari, Renault, BMW) seem to have made a complete monkeys breakfast of the new regulations, while the "garagist" teams like Williams, RBR, Brawn (although that's a Honda) have hit the nail right on the head. So we conclude, the only manufacturer team that got it right is the one that jumped ship before the season. *ROFL*

[V12]

I think it's a bit harsh to call it a waste of time, it's the first race for a brand new technology and I'm sure as teams come to terms with it they'll get more out of it. What I don't understand is this 6 second per lap thing. Surely they should be allowed to use it as much as they charge it?

[LiamM]

They did do some onscreen graphics in Raikkonen's car showing when he was boosting, but that only works when they switch to the in-car feed. Then again, with the A1GP it always looks messy having the list of cars down the side of the screen which I suppose would be the only way of indicating who was doing what.

Or some sort of flashing light on top of the car? Should mess up the aero nicely :p

Maybe not on the top, but somewhere on the side, something rather like the position indicator lights in sportcar racing. Something like this, would help marshalls also as they'd be able to tell if a car is actually running KERS so can take the correct precautions