Insight info recap from Malaysia GP& general situation Part2

By Various sources
April 5 2009

This is the continuation of the insight info report, compiled by Afca.

It's interesting that Red Bull is doing very well without having a diffuser like that (nor KERS - AFCA) : ''They've shown that in Melbourne. We have to look at all the fuel loads to see what all the times are worth. (But having a double-decker diffuser) makes for a very dominant effect, we've seen that in Melbourne but here even more.''

On the field being much tighter due to the new regulations: ''Between the first drivers and the last ones there were 1.4 seconds. For years there used to be 5 seconds in between that. At some stage we even had the 107% regulations denying anyone that qualified outside this percentage to take part in the race. At this track 7% would be 7 seconds and there would actually have been teams that wouldn't have made it. So you can see how extremely close the field has moved together.''

''With (only) 1.4 seconds seperating 20 cars, the form of the day as well as the smallest of mistakes, either from the set-up or from the driver decides whether you're at the front or at the back. That's why you should be a little cautious interpreting the qualiying result. After all both Red Bull drivers, having a conventional diffuser, are in front of Kubica. That says it all really.''

The KERS teams are not really up there: ''That goes to show that KERS still has a smaller influence compared to the aerodynamics and the tyres. Nevertheless KERS brings something, especially at this track. Just compare the first sector times between KERS-equipped cars and non-KERS-equipped cars. And when you look at the differences in topspeeds at the long straight then there's a difference of 8 km/h.''

''Even if the KERS would be neutral over a lap, which it isn't, then you would still have the strategic advantage of being fast on the straights or being able to defend your position having a weaker car. During the race that's significant. But the influence from KERS is in the area of 0.3 seconds whereas the influence of having bad aerodynamics or the wrong tyres is in the area of 0.5 to 1 second.''

In Sepang BMW Sauber thought about not equipping Heidfeld's car with the device: ''Yesterday we carried out a comparison. In the morning he used it, in the afternoon he didn't. We did that because we wanted to have a direct comparison and because wanted to try whether we could really do it in between two practice sessions, taking the entire system out óf the car that is.''

''At the end of the day, on the basis of the data, Nick said he's faster with KERS. Up to Q3 Nick was fast but then he hit traffic on his outlap which prevented him to prepare his tyres. Therefore he didn't have the necessary pace in the first half of his flying lap.''

Kubica is to have KERS in the car as soon as possible as well: ''It's our aim to prepare the car with KERS for him. This implies both development work to KERS as well as to the car. The problem is his weight and the resultant lack of ballast to outbalance the car. It's not that KERS is causing the problem. I think he'll use KERS over the course of the season in order to be able to drive at the front.''

Theissen doesn't dare to predict how the rest of the season will go: ''You can't make any predictions about the season, at the moment you can't do that at all. Things could change completely at any time, it's much too close.''