Räikkönen will not have KERS at Sakhir during testing

Kimi Räikkönen confirmed that he will not use the KERS (KERS in English) on Friday during the first free practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ferrari will then rely entirely on the system of his teammate Felipe Massa, who will have it on his car.

The Scuderia had chosen not to use the KERS in China, after reliability issues, but Massa felt that the absence of the device made the car even less competitive.

The team reportedly introduced a new lightweight chassis for the Finnish driver in Bahrain to improve the overall weight of the car. The chassis passed the crash tests yesterday. However, despite this, Räikkönen claims he will not have the KERS.

« I will not use it tomorrow. My teammate’s other F60 will have it, then we will make a decision on the path to take. We will be able to compare the two cars by observing the differences. »

McLaren indicated that the long straight and braking zones at Sakhir will give the KERS another dimension never reached since the start of the season, but Räikkönen still seems to doubt its advantages.

« He probably brings speed in many places, but the car was not up to scratch last weekend, » added the 2007 world champion.

Among the other teams using the SREC, BMW with Nick Heidfeld will likely employ it in the race, while Renault, which had also abandoned it in Shanghai, should use it tomorrow in practice before deciding on their plans for the rest of the weekend.