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Ferrari president: KERS in 2009 'a mistake' |
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has attacked the introduction of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) into Formula 1 in 2009 as 'a mistake' as the costs are 'very high' and the new technology 'will be very different from road car systems'.
The
Scuderia is known to be one of the teams running the most behind with its development of KERS – part of the FIA's energy efficiency drive designed to dramatically bring down expenditure in the top flight over the forthcoming years.
di Montezemolo, however – not usually one to speak out against F1's governing body – has criticised the new systems as being prohibitively expensive and of little relevance in comparison with road car technology.
“The future looks very complicated with these new regulations,” the 61-year-old told Italian magazine
Autosprint. “We feel introducing KERS this year was already a mistake, even though we're supportive of F1 being a technology-proving ground.
“However, the energy recovery systems for our race cars will be very different from road car systems – and the costs are very high.
“We've studied proposals with FOTA (the Formula One Teams' Association) to meet the FIA's fair requests regarding spending cuts, and the engine costs should be halved next year compared with 2008.”
It has emerged that more and more teams are now looking outside of the F1 paddock for help with KERS, with McLaren-Mercedes said to be courting Motorola spin-off Freescale Simiconductor regarding a collaboration from 2010 and beyond, and the understanding that major German technology company Bosch is similarly getting involved in the general development and liaising with various teams, according to
Auto Motor und Sport.
Fiat subsidiary Magneti Marelli is also believed to be working with Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso on KERS projects.
