The KERS, Achilles’ heel of the RB7?
Since this year, most teams have decided to equip the KERS again, to gain 80hp over 6.6 seconds. And several of these teams have reliability issues due to this system, like the Red Bull Racing team, which hasn't experienced a single peaceful weekend regarding this addition.
In Australia, neither of the two drivers could use it, but the reigning world champion managed to win without needing it. The situation was more complicated in Malaysia, where the team decided to use it on both cars during the race after benefiting from it in qualifying. However, the system failed on Mark Webber’s car as early as the formation lap, while his teammate could only use it during the first part of the race before the team asked him to do without the system.
And the KERS once again made news for the Austrian team last weekend during the Chinese Grand Prix, hindering Mark Webber in the third free practice session and during qualifying. In the race, the Australian driver also did not have the extra horsepower, while Sebastian Vettel did not seem to have a truly effective system.
The Red Bull KERS system would therefore be the Achilles’ heel of this dominant RB7, which probably wouldn’t have lost first place in Shanghai if the strategy had been on point. Indeed, the absence or malfunction of this system can be detrimental at several moments during a Grand Prix, particularly at the start. The addition of 80hp during acceleration when the car launches can indeed help gain precious meters over an opponent, and its absence makes any defense very difficult at the first corner, as shown by the attacks from Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button on the Red Bull driver. He did use the KERS, as shown by the FOM footage, but still couldn’t hold back the two McLaren drivers and struggled to shake off Nico Rosberg.
Hence certain hypotheses suggest that the Austrian team’s KERS does not deliver the usual 80 horsepower typical of other systems, but much less. The reliability issue due to this system could also be attributed to the design of the car itself. Indeed, cars designed by Adrian Newey are often adapted to the nearest millimeter, leaving very little free space. This could affect the installation of the KERS in the car, causing an overheating problem which might prevent the team from using it continuously.
The Red Bull team therefore wishes to solve its single recurring reliability problem and now has three weeks to work on it, allowing its two drivers to use a system that has been causing them issues since the start of the season.
