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Ferrari Ready for Plan B, No KERS Involved

Ferrari are prepared to begin their 2009 F1 campaign without the much-acclaimed Kinetic Energy Recovery System. The Scuderia has been quite open about their failure to develop the KERS unit in time, being the only team from the 'Top 3' (Mercedes, Ferrari and BMW) not to test the new technology on-track.

“The objective is to arrive at the first race with a functioning and competitive KERS, but we also have a B plan: not a different car but a version without KERS,” Ferrari's technical director Aldo Costa was quoted as saying by Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

Ferrari has been consistently asking the International Automobile Federation to delay the introduction of the KERS unit in Formula 1 by 2010. McLaren, despite managing to get the KERS unit on track during the past few weeks, have also suggested it is safer to run the unit after the 2009 season.

In recent days, however, it seemed that BMW were not that well prepared to use the technology either. Being the only F1 team to push forward the introduction of KERS from as early as the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, the German outfit had to face several failures with the system – especially during the last 2 testing sessions at Jerez – and are yet to confirm using the technology at the season opener.

Robert Kubica himself admitted BMW are most likely not going to use KERS in the opening rounds of next season. He insisted that, although feeling good when using the power boost, the unit might affect the performances of taller and heavier drivers.

“It is nice when you press it as you feel an additional boost. From my personal point of view - as I am a tall and heavy driver - it is not really positive, as the weight of KERS is influencing quite a lot, especially when it comes to weight distribution, so it is limiting me quite a lot,” admitted Kubica after the second day of testing at Jerez this week.
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