Mosley downplays KERS concerns

FIA boss speculates over recent incidents

Last updated: 31st July 2008

Mosley: Downplaying concerns

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Max Mosley has downplayed safety concerns surrounding plans to introduce Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) into Formula One next season.

With two incidents occurring in recent weeks, one resulting in Red Bull's factory having to be evacuated and the other putting a BMW Sauber mechanic in hospital, concerns have been voiced over the devices, which store heat energy dissipated from brakes and then use it as a power boost.

The FIA president, a strong advocate of KERS as part of F1's attempted push towards a 'greener' ethic, reckons the BMW incident, in which the mechanic received an electric shock, was probably the result of the team failing to properly insulate a car fitted with the device.

"For us there are two main areas," he told Autosport. "There's what we call the health and safety area, which is in the factory and basic precautions of the car.

"And then there's the operating it - does it cause a danger to the drivers, the marshals, the mechanics and so on? And we're interested in the operating it bit.

"What happened with BMW was, on the face of it, very surprising, because you would think they would either insulate the electrical system or they would earth the car.

"I don't know what went wrong, so I can't comment on it, but these are very elementary problems. With road cars I think a Toyota Lexus has a 600-volt system, but you don't get a shock from it."

As for the Red Bull incident, Mosley reckons the team were "pushing the boundaries of the units to see what happened".

He added: "Anyone who has ever been childish enough to operate a model plane that runs with lithium iron batteries will know that if you overcharge them you get better performance, but they also get very hot and start to bulge, and they're only small, so you have to be careful."