Team principals: Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari), Norbert Haug (Mercedes), Vijay Mallya (Force India) and Mario Theissen (
BMW Sauber).
Questions from the floor.
Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News).
For Stefano and Norbert: last week BMW tested their KERS system on the track. Where are you guys at with your systems?
Stefano Domenicali:
Still not on the track, so if they did that, I am very happy for them. It's a very complex project and for sure we are working very hard to have a very reliable and competitive system but at the moment we are not yet ready to go onto the track.
Norbert Haug:
Well, we will test before the end of the season, according to our planning. We think we can do a big, big part of the development at home, in our facilities and we are on track, I have to say. Mercedes Benz has a lot of knowledge about this technique and so we are definitely heading in the right direction and we will test before the end of the season.
Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motorsport News).
Question for the three engine manufacturer representatives, expanding on Dan's question on KERS. I've read some stories about
Red Bull having problems with their testing of KERS: instability of the batteries, overheating, potentially dangerous by-products coming from exploded batteries. What are your thoughts on KERS moving forwards as a system, its stability and how much resources you're going to have to put into making sure that these things work and work safely?
SD:
OK, first of all we need to understand exactly what has happened. I think that is something which will be discussed at the next Technical Working Group and we will have an understanding exactly what has happened to them, so we don't have to over-react to anything at the moment because of course it's a new project, we need to take care of all the safety aspects and all the other things. Once again, we know that there is something to work with and to make sure that this will be an effective device without incurring any risk of potential problems or safety issues. But I would say that as far as we know, from our side, the situation is in progress and under control.
Mario Theissen:
Well, I have to say KERS is an exciting project. It is definitely cutting-edge technology. If we want to gain a lap time advantage, the power-to-weight ratio of KERS components needs to be of the factor of three or four of what you would see in current hybrid road car vehicles, so that already indicates that we are really pushing the envelope here. We are developing or working on several alternatives, especially in terms of energy storage – we do an electrical system – and we have had some issues already in development which is normal, no big ones, and we have carried out extensive work on reliability, on potential damage and on all cases which could happen. So that means we have done an FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis) on the entire system, especially on the storage unit and we are doing specific tests to really figure out what can be done or what can happen and what can be done to avoid it.
NH:
Our company has a lot of knowledge on KERS, that is very well known. We share some of the knowledge with BMW on the production car side. It's an interesting, challenging project, not an inexpensive one, by the way, but I think it's challenging and we are looking forward to having a good system on our car very soon.
Q:
Dr Mallya, what sort of challenge is it for an independent team?
