25/04/2009
NEWS STORY
Due to be made compulsory in 2010, it is claimed that FOTA wants to see the controversial KERS systems banned.
Despite its drive to dramatically cut costs, the FIA has continued to change the regulations on a year-by-year basis, with 2009 witnessing some of the biggest rule changes ever witnessed in the sport.
One of the most controversial initiatives however, has to be KERS - the Kinetic Energy Recovery System - a device which has cost the teams millions to develop but few are using. While in 2009 teams are free to use or not use the device, in 2010 it will be compulsory on all cars in all races.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport however, Renault boss claims that FOTA, the teams alliance, is hoping to see the devices banned.
"We understood right from the start that KERS was a money-sucking genius, and the FIA should have taken note of that," he said. "It should have been discussed before the start of the season, and the same goes for the diffusers. Having failed to do that has forced on us expenses that are crazy as much as useless."
His comments to the Italian publication follow on from comments the Italian made regarding costs at Friday's press conference, when he said: "When we started KERS, nobody knew how much KERS would cost. Now we have KERS and maybe we use it for another one or two races, if everything goes well.
"We need to be very, very careful when we change the rules to see the consequences because every time you don't have stability it costs you and sometimes you spend more… you try to change something, we need to be very careful about this. We need the teams and the Federation to work together to achieve what everybody wants, to make Formula One a centre for profit not a centre for costs. This is possible, it's very possible to have this in the future."
Asked by Gazzetta dello Sport if the teams would like to see KERS dropped at the end of the season, Briatore said: "Yes, FOTA wants to ban it from 2010!"