Williams are fully intending to use the controversial KERS system on their 2010 car, they announced today. Earlier this season teams organisation FOTA forced the FIA to drop the obligation to use KERS in 2010, saying that it was too expensive.
But the British team say that it has persevered with its flywheel-based system, despite not having used it this year. They will use it on the FW32 as they say they believe the system to be important to automotive technology in general.
“We fully support the use of KERS and always have done,” Williams technical director Sam Michael announced today.
“Given the environmental and sustainability pressures that Formula 1 is going to face in the future, KERS is a positive step for the sport.
“It’s in next year’s regulations, so we’re continuing developing our system with a view to using it on next year’s FW32.”
The reaction to KERS has been muted in the paddock. Ferrari, McLaren and Renault are the only teams to have used it, and the relative uncompetitiveness of their cars has made evaluation of the system difficult. The cars from those three teams, however, have caused headaches for faster cars, as they have been virtually impossible to overtake given the straight-line speed advantage KERS bestows.
It was universally decided at the time of the Great F1 Crisis in mid-summer that KERS was too expensive a system to be pursued in a new austere era. Williams, however, were later suspended from FOTA and have rarely toed the other teams’ line.
