Vettel “sure” to have KERS for the race

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Barcelona, 2011

Sebastian Vettel says he’s “sure” Red Bull will be able to fix his Kinetic Energy Recovery System in time for tomorrow’s race.

Speaking after qualifying second Vettel said: “In the race I think we will be on top of it again.

“It seems to be a bit of an endless story but the guys are pushing very hard.

“Yes, we are working very hard on the KERS. No, I didn’t use it for Q2 and Q3. I’m sure we will have it tomorrow.”

Vettel played down whether having KERS would have helped him beat his team mate:

“It’s difficult to say. It’s not right to say ‘I didn’t have KERS, that’s why Mark’s on pole’. I think he deserved pole, he did a better job today. But, sure, it was not ideal.”

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    18 comments on “Vettel “sure” to have KERS for the race”

    1. “It’s difficult to say. It’s not right to say ‘I didn’t have KERS, that’s why Mark’s on pole’. I think he deserved pole, he did a better job today. But, sure, it was not ideal.”

      Well KERS, according EJ is worth almost 0.5 of a second per lap, so his pole time being only 0.2 faster than Seb just highlight how far behind he is

      1. Webber had KERS issues in previous races also.

        1. Yeah, but not in this quali session. It also shows just how far behind the McLarens are here too being 1 second slower than a KERS enabled RB…its a long season..but I don’t think McLaren will be closing the gap any time soon.

          1. He did in his final run in Malaysia. His did 2 runs at the end of his Q3. The first with which put him 2nd I think and a 2nd lap whihc he couldnt use KERs for and was only slightly slower.

      2. I am the biggest MW fan, but I still think that he is ~0.2s on average slower than Vettel so far this year. Not to say that he won’t find his form again, but that is how it has been so far in ’11

        1. 0.2s ?!? Mark has been much slower than his teammate. KERS issues aside, Mark has still been close to 0.5s off his teammate’s pace.

    2. He will need the KERS in the race. Their race pace isn’t that much better than the other cars and if they can’t have a stop less than the others (I doubt it considering how long they’d need to use the super slow (hard) tyrein that case) they will need something to keep the other cars off them on the main straight.

    3. is only KERS exempt from Parc Fermée conditions or is that for any part that needs fixing between quali and race?

      1. Nigelstash (@)
        21st May 2011, 16:24

        I was wondering about that. Perhaps it isn’t actually broken, but is likely to malfunction when the extreme qualifying engine settings are used, so it becomes ‘unavailable’? (Pure speculation – someone with some technical knowledge might put me right on this).
        Either way, it seems red Bull’s domination in qualifying is more to do with the DRS than Kers, as their superior downforce enables them to deploy it much earlier as they emerge from corners – something they won’t be able to do in the race. If Hamilton can get a jump on Vettel from the start and use his superior straight line speed down the pit straight before DRS is allowed, then he could get far enough ahead to stay ahead. We could be in for a genuine race.

    4. Even if he has KERS I can see Hamilton getting past him off the grid, hopefully we will have a repeat of last year’s race except without the wheel failure.

      1. Vettel can keep the position at the start as he showed in Australia, just if he loses it the show will be greater.

      2. It doesn’t really matter if Hamilton passes him on the start, Vettel’s car is far more superior, it will be a matter of 2-3 laps until he makes a DRS pass on Lewis. This is Red Bull’s race (and season), to think of another team winning it is a waste of hope.

        1. I wouldn’t say it’s a forgone conclusion, with it being an aero track it’s harder to stay within the 1sec window, although of course having a car half a second faster will help a lot there. Hamilton could stay in the mix if he gets his strategy right in any case.

        2. But Vettel is on the dirty side of the track and if his KERS is not working perfectly he might well be a sitting duck at the start and lose out to all 3 cars behind him and maybe have to fight off Petrov first.

    5. in other words: faulty KERS = lack of finger

    6. “It’s difficult to say. It’s not right to say ‘I didn’t have KERS, that’s why Mark’s on pole’. I think he deserved pole, he did a better job today. But, sure, it was not ideal.”

      That is what he’s saying though ;)

    7. The main thing is he is on the dirty side of the track,I guess Mark will have a clean getaway with Vettel trying very hard to defend Hamilton.

      1. I think that’s the most likely result, Mark isn’t known for bad getaways so I doubt Vettel will get him. Hamilton and Alonso will be eager to get in front before the first corner so I think Vetel should be more worried about staying in the top two.

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