Top Cars

Despite some serious reservations regarding the safety and high cost of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System
(KERS), the hybrid system has received the green light for introduction into the 2009 Formula 1 season. After BMW and Renault had some, uh, issues with KERS, Renault called a meeting to discuss whether the new flywheel-based system should be postponed until 2010. BMW Sauber, Honda Racing and Williams are apparently feeling confident enough in their own systems to resist the delay. Because F1 rules dictate that a consensus must be reached to change the previous ruling, F1 cars in 2009 will run with the new drivetrain. The only thing which could still hold back the new technology would be if the teams were unable to guarantee the safety of their systems, and this seems unlikely given that Honda has already completed a successful track test last week.