Webber: Worried

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Mark Webber has admitted he has serious concerns about the decision to introduce the new KERS systems into Formula One next season.

The Australian driver's worries stem from two incidents to have occurred in testing Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems during recent weeks.

A BMW Sauber mechanic was taken to hospital last month after he suffered an electric shock when he touched a car fitted with KERS during testing at Jerez.

Webber's own Red Bull team have also had problems testing their own version of the system, their factory having had to be evacuated after smoke poured from a battery.

However, the former incident - especially BMW Sauber's failure as yet to announce the cause of the shock - presents by far the bigger concern to Webber.

"There is a report coming from BMW about what happened there, but the rumour is they haven't a clue why it happened. They have no idea - and that is a worry," Webber told Autosport.

"You only need to think about what would happen if someone gets shocked into the fast lane of the pit lane.

"It is like a plane crash when you don't get the evidence."

Fears

But Force India technical director Mike Gascoyne has downplayed Webber's fears, predicting that F1 engineers will get to grips with the new technology sooner rather than later.

"It's flavour of the month but the simple fact is teams will get on top of it," he said.

"If you look at the electronic systems, they are fairly standard technology which is why people are going for them rather than some of the more involved mechanical type systems that do pose a lot of problems.

"The fact is, we will get on top of them quickly. As soon as one person does, the nature of Formula One means everyone else has to.

"Things like the incident with BMW, I'm sure they are working to understand it, but I don't think that'll cause problems. It should be straightforward.

"Certainly the electronic KERS we're looking at is a fully sealed unit. All the high-tension cables are within a sealed unit. It's difficult to see how you can have a problem."

KERS is designed to give cars a power boost by storing and converting heat energy dissipated by their brakes.