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Drivers not using KERs in Quali? (10 posts)

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Andy92 said 2 years, 2 months ago:

So after watching quali and watching/reading some driver interiews it seems neither red bull drivers were using KERS for their fastest Q3 lap. Both Webber and Vettel said this, but didn’t seem to suggest it was broken. Did they just choose not to press the button? Any ideas why they may have done this?

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VettelS said 2 years, 2 months ago:

I believe Hamilton also didn’t use KERS on his fast lap. Not sure why though- I assume that perhaps it’s too difficult to operate the KERS and DRS simultaneously, so they decides on the latter only.

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newnhamlea1 said 2 years, 2 months ago:

Hamilton had a Kers failure on his fast lap. As for Red Bull, they appear to have developed a unique twist on kers. It is believed that their solution contains no actual way of recovering kinetic energy, hence the lack of use in qualifying. However, the rules state that the KERS is allowed to be pre-charged before the start of the race. All of this means that Red Bull have developed a system that can only be used once, at the start.

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newnhamlea1 said 2 years, 2 months ago:

sorry, double post.

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Master firelee said 2 years, 2 months ago:

That might be true @newnhamlea1 but vettel joked that he couldn’t find the KERS button, atleast I think he was joking.

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butterdori said 2 years, 2 months ago:

Well, now Horner said that it was a strategic decision not to use it, and refused to tell whether they will be using KERS in the race

I’m baffled. What strategic reason would that be? Hope we can find out tomorrow

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dam00r said 2 years, 2 months ago:

I suspect that Vettel didn’t even have KERS in his car. To compare the Red Bulls performance with and without KERS. Could I be wrong?

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Icthyes said 2 years, 2 months ago:

I think it was just a set-up choice, Albert Park has a few straights but it’s not known for being a top-speed circuit, maybe Red Bull switched theirs off and found better time with a more stable brake balance? I’m not sure about the mini-KERS yet though, for one it would have to charge energy, though maybe minuscule amounts to make it barely legal, it sounds like something Red Bull would do, but apparently they’ve used KERS in practice so I’m not convinced it exists,

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Todfod said 2 years, 2 months ago:

Could it be possible that they did not have the KERS device at all during qualifying? The reduced weight, and increased flexibility in setting up the balance of the car gave them the advantage today?

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AndrewTanner said 2 years, 2 months ago:

I’m sure you guys have seen by now, but there are rumours of a ‘start-only’ KERS. You can find more on the main page of the site.

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