Team Lotus confirms: no KERS in 2011

Team Lotus confirms the rumors: no KERS on their car this year, nor HRT and Virgin.

The head of engineers Lewis Butler justified the choice to deprive the car of the energy recovery system on the pages of the Team Lotus Notes magazine: “We made the decision to be able to be more free in designing the car, and move forward more quickly. Fitting a device like the KERS into a single-seater is quite a headache."

Marianne Hinson, head of aerodynamicists, echoes him: "Not having the KERS is also better for us: it allows us to have fewer constraints in the shape of the frame, otherwise we would have many more limits."

For now Lotus makes no mention of a possible late application of KERS, but the impression that emerges from the words of workshop manager Keith Saunt is that the car will run all year without it: "If we saw that with KERS we could earn important positions, then we will think about it. But at the moment it's just a complication we can avoid. If it were necessary, we still have the capabilities and means necessary to implement it."

Gian Maria Di Stefano