The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Force India likely to introduce KERS in Germany

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Force India likely to introduce KERS in Germany

Barcelona: Not really convinced that Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is the panacea it has been seeking all along, Force India has delayed the introduction of KERS as late as the German Grand Prix in July, its Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella said.

Fisichella said the team abandoned the initial plan to introduce it in Sunday’s Spanish GP and the VJM02 cars would run without the device in the first eight legs of this year’s Formula One World championship.

“We were supposed to use it here but unfortunately we delayed the programme and hopefully it is going to be introduced in Germany,” Fisichella said.

The optional KERS stores energy which otherwise would have been wasted while braking and allows a driver to push a boost button and get an additional 80bhp for seven seconds in each lap. A number of teams are running without KERS and the F-1 world seems divided in opinion about the actual benefit from KERS and Fisichella said he had no clue about it. “Well, I never used it. I never drove with the KERS, so I cannot say a lot,” he said.

Force India owner Vijay Mallya had earlier made it clear that the team was stressing more on new aero updates, which yielded encouraging results in Bahrain.

Fisichella too felt that the updates, including a new diffuser, made a difference in the performance of the cars.

“Yes, the team did a good effort to build the double diffuser. It was a good step forward obviously. We made a step forward but not enough to move forward in the grid positions,” he said. “We need another good step like that. Here we will have a new adjustable front wing which is a small step forward, so let’s see where we are,” he said.

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