Marussia needs a KERS system to catch up with its direct rivals.

That is the admission of team boss John Booth, who told the Russian website championat.com that he is looking into adding the energy recovery technology to next year’s Marussia package.

“First of all, I want to say that while it is said it (KERS) is a ‘green’ technology, in reality it’s just a serious waste of money,” he said.

“But in our situation it’s time to start thinking seriously about KERS. Of the gap to Caterham, five or six tenths is due to KERS,” added Booth.

“So we are thinking seriously about it for 2013, but so far there is no decision.”

Both admitted the start of the 2012 season has been a disappointment so far for Marussia, which in its first two years was called Virgin.

He said the team has recently completed a phase of serious restructuring.

“We had a good team of people before, but now we have a good team of designers. Though we have been in F1 for three years, I have the feeling that we were actually born in July 2011.”

Both is undoubtedly referring to the split mid last year with former technical chief Nick Wirth, and the relocation to a new headquarters.

Ferrari might be gearing up to incorporate a ‘double-DRS’ setup aboard its improving F2012 car.

If true, the famous Italian team would be the first team to successfully emulate the controversial Mercedes system, which has been declared fully legal by the governing FIA.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said a new rear wing was among the very last upgrades to be trialled by Fernando Alonso as the Mugello test concluded late on Thursday.

“The wing has only minor changes. You have to look closely,” read the report.

The magazine reported rumours that the wing might eventually accommodate the so-called ‘double-DRS’ or 2012-style F-duct, which would work in conjunction with a new and so far unseen front wing.

“That (wing) will debut along with a new diffuser and nose in Barcelona,” added Auto Motor und Sport.

There were happy faces in the Ferrari garage on Thursday, as – despite a minor off by Alonso – the upgrades appeared to work well.

“Barcelona will be a key moment in the season, but not a decisive one,” the Spanish driver insisted.

“It’s not a case that we will suddenly find ourselves back on pole position, because there is no magic button.”

Echoing the earlier words of Mark Webber, Alonso said the “fastest car” at Mugello this week was the Lotus.

Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko agrees: “It looks like Lotus are the quickest.”

Veteran Swiss correspondent Roger Benoit wrote in Blick newspaper: “Lotus, with Kimi Raikkonen in super shape, is the championship dark horse.”

Jenson Button doubts other teams will be pushing too hard to rush a Mercedes-style ‘double-DRS’ to their 2012 package.

The F-duct-style concept is, so far, the highest profile innovation of the season.

So with the FIA declaring it fully legal, and Nico Rosberg breaking through with his maiden pole and win in Shanghai last weekend, it seems a no-brainer that the other teams will now be following suit.

But McLaren’s Button doesn’t think so.

“I really don’t think it’s giving them that much — I think they’re just quick,” he is quoted by the BBC.

“From all our simulations, we don’t think it’s a massive margin at all. It’s a great invention on their part, but our DRS system is very good so I don’t think it’s giving them much over us.

“Obviously nothing in the race and in qualifying it’s minimal,” said Button.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton thinks the fastest cars so far are the Mercedes, the McLaren and the Red Bull.

“The Mercedes I think is now the quickest — particularly over one lap,” said the 2008 world champion.

“Not sure they are quickest in race pace. I think the Red Bull is probably the quickest in race pace. We have shown we have good qualifying pace and race pace.

“We are there or thereabouts and we have as good an opportunity as anyone.”

McLaren is not yet ready to roll out a Mercedes-style ‘F-duct’ to complement its highly competitive 2012 car.

Despite Mercedes struggling with tyres in the actual races so far, the W03 is a standout qualifying performer, thanks in part to the so-nicknamed front and rear ‘super-DRS’ system.

Red Bull, Lotus and perhaps even Ferrari are threatening to protest, but until now McLaren – with arguably the dominant package of the 2012 season so far – has stayed out of the argument.

“We don’t have a strong view one way or the other,” technical director Paddy Lowe confirmed during the regular Vodafone media teleconference on Tuesday.

The F-duct will remain a hot topic in China this weekend, with Lotus’ technical boss James Allison believed to be armed with two new arguments against its legality.

It was thought McLaren was quite advanced with its own version of the system.

But Lowe revealed: “Until we’ve got clarity it’s difficult for us to commit a huge about of effort in that direction. So that’s where we are at the moment.”

He steered away from suggestions Mercedes, including boss Ross Brawn, have flouted the “spirit” of the recent F-duct ban.

“There’s no such thing as the spirit of the rules,” insisted Lowe, admitting that if there was a ‘spirit’ of the DRS rule, the Mercedes system is “definitely” in breach.

“The debate around whether they can keep that system on the car is not about whether it is in that spirit or not, it’s about whether the text of the regulations means they can’t,” he explained.

The FIA appears to have waded back into the ‘F-duct’ debate, indicating that the Mercedes-style solution is fully legal.

We reported on Monday that the saga looked set to continue into China next weekend, with some teams – notably Red Bull and Lotus – questioning the legality of the aerodynamic innovation.

It had emerged that Lotus technical director James Allison has come up with another argument against the technology that will be posed to the FIA’s Charlie Whiting ahead of scrutineering in Shanghai next week.

Christian Horner insists Red Bull and Lotus’ concerns are shared by others.

“Believe me it’s not just Red Bull, I think there’s half the paddock that’s been looking at this,” he told British television Sky Sport’s The F1 Show.

The Red Bull team boss revealed that Whiting left Malaysia wanting “to have a think about it”.

So, the latest development is the re-release via the FIA website of an “edited version” of the technical briefing that Whiting gave to reporters in Australia last month.

It is believed the complaining teams’ main objection to the Mercedes system is that it arguably uses ‘driver movement’ – the pressing of the DRS button – to be activated.

Under the heading “Pressing the DRS button and the issue of ‘driver movement’”, the media briefing quotes Whiting as stating simply: “This is specifically allowed (in the rules).”

Mercedes’ Ross Brawn is quoted by the BBC: “We call it the DRS, because that’s all it is. The purpose of the DRS is to improve overtaking and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Whiting’s stance in China, however, may not be the end of it.

“Then the teams are faced with alternatives,” Horner explained. “Either accept it and get on it and maybe look at your own solution if that fits your car.

“You’ve got the opportunity to protest if we were to feel – or any other team were to feel – that we didn’t agree with Charlie’s interpretation,” he added.

 Contrary to recent speculation, McLaren does not yet have a Mercedes-style new F-duct on its dominant 2012 car.
When boss Martin Whitmarsh said in Melbourne that he would not be joining a theoretical protest against the Mercedes innovation, many suggested it was because the MP4-27 is already hiding something similar.

Not yet, although the FIA did take a long look at the silver car in Melbourne.

“If they were looking for an F-duct, we don’t have one,” Whitmarsh smiled to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

In fact, the scrutineers were checking and then re-checking the height of the MP4-27′s front wing.

But the F-duct might be coming.

“All the teams are going to be trying to extract the maximum within the permitted regulations,” confirmed managing director Jonathan Neale in a media teleconference this week.

But he also revealed that McLaren doesn’t yet “understand well enough” how the Mercedes system works.

Melbourne winner Jenson Button and his teammate Lewis Hamilton will therefore race a basically unchanged McLaren this weekend in Malaysia.

But Hamilton’s downbeat mood has been picked up with the news that he was beaten by Button from pole last Sunday due to a minor clutch issue.

“It wasn’t my fault,” said the Briton, “but we now understand and know how to improve in the future.”

As for their differing race performances, Hamilton insists he now understands “the reasons” for Melbourne “and it puts me in a really positive frame of mind” ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian grand prix.

 Ross Brawn has scolded Mercedes’ critics as a protest threat continues to hang over the Australian grand prix.
Lotus is concerned the silver W03 features illegal aerodynamic solutions, and on Saturday raised the prospect of post-qualifying or post-race protests.

“It’s an option,” boss Eric Boullier is quoted by the Sun.

“All I can say is Red Bull and ourselves do not believe the Mercedes system is legal.”

Asked about the prospect of an official protest, Mercedes’ Brawn is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “That would be very disappointing.

“If someone believes a car is illegal, then he should protest before the weekend, not afterwards.”

Brawn’s argument is that a pre-event protest gives the FIA a chance to respond and, if necessary, request a team make changes to its car before official results are filed.

He continued: “We have always informed the FIA about what we are doing.

“On Wednesday of this week they took a close look at the system in our garage and found it to be legal.

“As long as the FIA has this opinion, we will use the system,” said the Briton.

Brawn, in fact, smells diversionary tactics, amid earlier speculation about the legality of some exhaust solutions — notably Red Bull’s.

“The discussion about our system has diverted the focus from the exhaust issue,” he agreed.

Interestingly, McLaren has stayed out of the debate so far, stating simply on Saturday that it will not join a Lotus and Red Bull protest.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh has now revealed his designers are working on something similar.

“We think we know what to do,” Auto Motor und Sport quotes him saying. “In general it is difficult with the limited space in a formula one car to integrate systems at a later date.

“But I don’t think we are going to have problems,” added Whitmarsh.

 Marussia needs to get the basics right before worrying about KERS, Timo Glock explained on the eve of the 2012 season.
The experienced German, and his rookie teammate Charles Pic, enter the new season with essentially no testing, after the former Virgin team struggled to push its new car – the MR01 – through the FIA’s mandatory crash tests.

Last year, the Cosworth-powered team was soundly beaten by its closest rival Team Lotus, who as well as changing its name to Caterham for 2012 has also added a Red Bull KERS system to its Renault-powered package.

“On the subject of KERS, it is of course a disadvantage not to have it,” Glock is quoted by the SID news agency.

“But we have said that our focus is right to first get rid of the four seconds of aerodynamic deficit, before we worry about the money and the manpower we need for five tenths with the KERS,” added Glock.

“We have to get the foundation right first,” said the almost 30-year-old.

McLaren and Mercedes look to be leading the way with the latest technical ingenuity in formula one.
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the two teams are set to combine the button-activated DRS system with a sort of additional F-duct at the rear of their 2012 cars.

It was believed F-ducts were no longer legal, but new passive systems have emerged on the front wings of some 2012 cars, pioneered by Mercedes.

As for the rear wings, those F-ducts are also still legal “under certain circumstances”, the German magazine claims.

Combining a legal rear F-duct with DRS could result in a “huge top-speed gain”, writer Michael Schmidt claims, with the Mercedes W03 reportedly racing ahead by a whopping 18kph at the recent Barcelona test.

Gerhard Berger is quite sure Red Bull Racing will not impose teams orders in its final push for the 2010 drivers’ title.

After Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber retired from the recent Korean grand prix, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso drove into a clear points lead.

The situation has sparked speculation that Red Bull must now throw its full weight behind Australian Webber, who has the higher points tally, with young German Vettel to take a reluctant subordinate role.

But Berger, former co-owner of the energy drink company’s second team Toro Rosso and a close friend of Dietrich Mateschitz, does not think Red Bull will take that approach.

“Some of the teams, like Williams or McLaren, operate as a business. In this way it makes sense for them to have a team strategy in order to maximise their championship position,” said the Austrian, referring to F1′s system of revenue distribution.

“But Red Bull has a very different approach, using formula one as a sporting platform to boost its product,” Berger told Austrian television Servus TV.

“And from the sporting approach, the best man wins,” he insisted.

Berger acknowledged the ‘grey area’ of team orders in formula one, such as Ferrari’s escape from the FIA hearing this year with a mere $100,000 fine but 7 additional points for Fernando Alonso.

“Forget grey areas, we’re thinking of morality,” he continued.

“If I know Dietrich Mateschitz, there is no question about the approach. And I think the fans will be grateful. It’s sport.

“It’s not sport however if all year you’re just making tactical moves,” insisted Berger.

An eventful and marathon inaugural Korean grand prix, beginning in boredom and ending in darkness, has changed the face of the 2010 world championship fight.

Championship leader Mark Webber lost his 14-point lead with a crash on the slippery track, and his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to pick up the pieces because of a Renault engine failure.

“Totally my mistake,” admitted Australian Webber after his crash, which also took out Nico Rosberg.

The result means Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – who laughed hysterically on the radio at the chequered flag – is the new championship leader, 11 points ahead of Webber with two races to go.

“Nothing has changed really,” said the Spaniard. “We all know the new points system. Anything can happen.”

After driving through the carnage and finishing second, Lewis Hamilton is now third in the championship, 21 points behind but four ahead of Vettel.

“It’s obviously not a nice moment,” said Vettel, the pole sitter and leader until his failure, as the race finished in near-darkness.

Jenson Button, 12th at the finish and among the slowest cars on track, is now a distant 42 points behind.

“I’m not really in it anymore,” said the reigning world champion on BBC television.

Force India has become the latest team to commit to using KERS in 2011.

When the energy-recovery systems were first permitted by the technical regulations last year, the Silverstone based team opted not to use the technology.

But for 2011, the FOTA gentleman’s ban on the systems will lapse, and the efficiency of KERS will improve due to the increase in the minimum car/driver weight by 20kg.

Moreover, the interaction of KERS with the car’s weight distribution will also be negated in 2011, due to the introduction of a mandatory 46:54 ratio.

“There is no other option than to go with KERS,” Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

However, Auto Motor und Sport said it is not clear if independent teams Sauber and Toro Rosso will use KERS next year, adding that all three new teams will probably not race the systems.

Teams not developing their own KERS systems for 2011 will be able to buy a supply for 1 million euros, while a 5 million euro per team development cap applies.

Williams will run its own battery-powered KERS system in 2011, technical director Sam Michael has announced.

The Grove based outfit runs its own hybrid systems company, and developed an unique flywheel system that is now used by Porsche in GT racing.

But Sir Frank Williams revealed recently that the flywheel system is so big “it would make our (F1) car like a London double-decker”.

So in 2011, with KERS returning to formula one, Williams Hybrid Power is working on a more conventional electrical version.

“Everything is being done in-house,” Michael confirmed.  “Only the battery cells are being bought from outside.”

(GMM)

Cosworth is tweaking the design of its formula one engine in order to accommodate KERS systems in 2011.

Although already permitted by the technical regulations, the teams voluntarily agreed to not use the energy-recovery technology this season.

But for 2011, the FOTA ban will lapse, and teams currently powered by Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have indicated they will fit KERS systems to their cars.

Williams has also indicated it will run KERS in 2011, and as well as the British team, Northampton based Cosworth also currently powers Lotus, Virgin and HRT.

“We have to make several new configurations to our V8 and also change some of the accessories,” Cosworth’s business director Mark Gallagher is quoted by Autosprint’s Italian-language auto.it.

He confirmed: “Our partners will be able to use KERS if they so choose.”

(GMM)

Jun.14 (GMM)
The confirmation was made after the F1 teams met in Canada to discuss technical matters relating to the 2011 season.

Adjustable rear wings are also set to debut in order to boost overtaking, and FOTA’s ban on using energy-recovering KERS systems is to lapse.

Some teams including Ferrari had pushed hard to make the KERS systems much more powerful in 2011, but agreement has instead been made to lift the minimum weight of the car-plus-driver.

As the weight handicap was considered among the problems of the KERS debut in 2009, the minimum limit will rise from 620 to 640kg next year.

“The teams have agreed on that,” Domenicali confirmed.

“We would have preferred to see a solution with much more energy being available (to KERS), but unfortunately an agreement could not be found.”

It is understood that the reason for staying with a lower power output is that some manufacturers would have had trouble adapting their existing technology.

However, while it has been suggested that another major problem for KERS in 2009 is that the systems were voluntary to run, it has emerged that the units will not be compulsory in 2011.

Mercedes, for instance, is considering whether to use KERS next year, even though a programme has already been initiated by the Brackley based squad with a view to a 2011 implementation.

“We will make a decision (about KERS for 2011) within four to six weeks,” said Ross Brawn.