Mercedes Benz have signalled their willingness to provide a standardised KERS unit in 2010. The teams’ organisation FOTA are believed to want a standard unit in order to cut development costs and increase reliability and safety. News agency GMM reports Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug’s interest.
“We would have interest in being the supplier,” Haug is quoted as saying.
KERS is optional this season, but will be mandatory next season. McLaren’s KERS, masterminded by Mercedes, has been one of the most successful of the KERS units on the grid this year, although its usefulness may have been disguised by the team’s other gremlins.
Conversely, KERS could be the source of McLaren’s problems as it has for other teams. Ferrari ditched their system in China after swearing blind it gave them a performance advantage, but were even slower without the system. Meanwhile, BMW, who have been the other supplier to confess interest in providing the standard unit for next season, have been woefully off the pace when using KERS.
Meanwhile the front running team in normal conditions, Brawn, has so far run without the system. It is suspected that a standard unit would be the most cost-effective, and an incentive for teams to incorporate the technology.
