Formula 1
Massa doesn't blame KERS for Ferrari struggle
Jun.2 (GMM) Felipe Massa has refused to blame Ferrari's competitive struggle in 2009 on the decision to use KERS. The new and controversial energy re-use technology was the talk of the winter period, but so far a KERS-equipped car has failed to ...
GMM
Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:50 PM
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Jun.2 (GMM) Felipe Massa has refused to blame Ferrari's competitive struggle in 2009 on the decision to use KERS.
The new and controversial energy re-use technology was the talk of the winter period, but so far a KERS-equipped car has failed to win a single race this year.
BMW, Renault and McLaren also kicked off the season with respective systems fitted to their cars, but at present only the latter has used KERS consistently this year.
BMW is working on an improved version to reintroduce later this season, while Renault quietly dropped KERS some races ago and has failed to even mention the technology ever since.
It is suggested that, in contrast to competitive cars like the Brawn and Red Bull, the Ferrari, BMW and McLaren were designed around the KERS concept and it was this decision that constrained their development progress.
Moreover, Ferrari's unit has been particularly challenging in the reliability stakes.
But Brazilian Massa, 28, refuses to accept that KERS can therefore be attributed as a mistake for Maranello based Ferrari, winner of the 2008 constructors' championship.
"Just like McLaren, BMW and Renault, we wanted to use the new technical rules to the maximum benefit," the Ferrari driver told Germany's Die Welt.
"It would have been embarrassing if the other manufacturers had used KERS systems successfully and we were at the back without it. So we had to go for the KERS option," added Massa.
"At the moment we have the best car that has KERS. Unfortunately the Brawn is better without it," he said.
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