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Williams F1 to Use Electric KERS in 2011

As most of you already know by now, Formula One will once again reunite with the innovatory Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) technology starting the 2011 season. However, as compared to the 2009 season in which the tech was initially deployed, all the F1 teams that are now aiming to actually use it will go for an electric version of KERS.

Back in 2009, while McLaren, Ferrari, BMW and Renault had decided to pump money into an electric, battery-based KERS, Frank Williams' team tried a different approach and developed a mechanical unit, based on a flywheel system. Although never used in F1, the flywheel-based KERS developed by Williams debuted in sportscars racing during the course of 2010, in the Porsche GT3R hybrid.

With the refueling ban implemented in F1 starting the recently ended campaign, the Grove technicians reconsidered their approach on KERS and, according to an interview taken by Autosport to the team's co-owner Patrick Head, the Williams FW33 will likely benefit from a battery-based unit next year.

I think it's fairly well known that we're going to be running a battery system,” said Head, according to the aforementioned publication.

The flywheel, by the very nature of what it is, has a cylinder of a certain diameter. The weight is actually lighter than a battery, but of equivalent power and energy storage. But the batteries, because they're made up of lots of little cells, we can make it large and flat, we can make it small and tall. We can put it into any shape,” explained the Williams boss.

With a new set of technical regulations set to revamp the series in 2013, including the potential return of the turbocharged engine, Head confirmed the British company will continue to develop the flywheel KERS – especially since it will continue to use it in sportscar racing – and hopefully even use it in F1 for the future.

Once refuelling was banned in Formula 1, it made it quite difficult to fit a flywheel into a Formula 1 car. (...) If the design of the cars allows us to install the flywheel, we'll look at it again as a possibility for Formula 1,” he added.
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