Inefficient KERS is only good for marketing- Antonio Cuquerella
Antonio Cuquerella, the HRT engineer reckons that the return of the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) will best benefit the large manufacturers for their marketing purposes and has very little or no real use in racing.
While talking about the return of the system in the sport he said that it is actually "inefficient" and there is not much sense for bringing it back on the track once again. KERS was first used in the sport in 2009 but as Formula One took several steps for
cost cutting at the start of 2010 season, this system also got banned. Due to its high cost, even in 2009, not all the teams were able to install it so it was majorly a tool for the forerunner only.
KERS is basically a technology that recovers the energy being lost during braking and turns and converts it into kinetic energy which is used as a power boost. When used earlier on the track McLaren’ system was considered to the best designed among all the
teams while the champion of both the titles of 2009, Brawn GP did not use the system.
Neat year, as the system is going to be seen on the track once again, both HRT and Virgin, are expected to run without it, due to its heavy cost as both these teams are already struggling hard to meet their expenditures.
On the other hand, all the frontrunners are not only very excited on the return of the system but are also committed to use it right from the start of the season. When Cuquerella, who previously worked with BMW, was asked about his reaction at the return
of the system, he stated, "It is a fashionable green technology that helps to sell more [road] cars. It's inefficient but the large manufacturers want it to sell their cars. A lot of the manufacturers want KERS as a tool of their marketing departments to justify
their investments in Formula One."
Moreover, he was also asked to give his opinion on HRT’s team boss, Colin Kolles' controversial statement, given earlier this month, blaming the inexperienced drivers of HRT for the poor performance in 2010. He dismissed Kolles’ statement saying, "It is
true that we were disadvantaged compared to having a driver like Trulli, but there is no doubt that the car was slow as well."
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