Williams Unsure of KERS Debut

Although Williams F1 Team was expected to debut their mechanic flywheel-based Kinetic Energy Recovery System from as early as the Spanish Grand Prix, team's technical head Sam Michael said he does not know when the unit will be incorporated into the FW31 this year. He did mention, however, that everyone at Grove are working flat out to complete the development of the technology in due time.

“As the rate of development slows, KERS will take on a greater significance. We're working flat-out to get it onto the FW31 as soon as possible, but I can't say when that will be at this stage. As soon as it's ready, it'll be on the car,” revealed Michael almost a week before the Spanish GP.

From the looks of it, Williams seems to take BMW's and Mercedes' side when it comes to a potential KERS ban from 2010 onwards, as the Grove based team has every intention of pursuing the development of the unit through the 2009 season. Not only that, but Williams have also announced they are planning to sell the technology within the automotive world in the years to come.

Going back to racing now, Michael admitted he feels disappointed with Williams' run in the championship so far, but argued the poor results in 2009 are not technically-related but the outcome of some poor judgment calls and mechanical errors.

“We've made a few mistakes. In Australia we had a problem with a wheel nut, which cost Nico about 10 seconds, in Malaysia we didn't switch to intermediate tires at the right time and in China we made the wrong strategic call with Nico when we brought him in during the first Safety Car period,” added Michael.

Williams have so far scored only 3.5 points in 4 races, a situation they'll be looking to rectify in Europe. In order for that to happen, Williams will introduce several new features on their FW31 in order to increase its aerodynamic efficiency.