KERS versus DRS: which is faster?

At the first Grand Prix of the 2011 season, in Australia, there were doubts about how effective the new Drag Reduction System would be. But those doubts were blasted away at the second race, held in Sepang on Sunday, given that the cars were using it down an 850-meter strait, the moveable rear wing giving them around 10-13 km/h more at top speed. The sight of the cars overtaking one another on that strait as they lost drag was spectacular, especially given that they were given even more of a boost from the KERS energy recovery system.

The problem for some drivers on Sunday was that they were getting to the end of the strait without their KERS systems being fully charged. When Vettel radioed his team to ask whether he could use the system the answer was no. Why? Because the team's designer, Adrian Newey, has decided to sacrifice the full capacity of this system so that it is only used at the start. That allows them to make use of smaller batteries, thus reducing the weight of the car by up to 20 kilos. The championship-leading Red Bull team also has a weight advantage when it comes to fuel, given that their Renault engines consume up to 20 kilos less gasoline than other engines during a race.

Given that 20 kilos of weight saved can mean 0.3 seconds per lap, with 40 kilos the team is finding half a second. And as such, they can enjoy the luxury of not having KERS.

Fernando Alonso paid dearly for the problem he had with his DRS system on Sunday. He could not get past McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and he had to resort to a risky move, which saw him clip the Briton and destroy part of his front wing. If his DRS had been working, he could have got past Hamilton on the straight, despite the McLaren's KERS system.

While Red Bull is sailing as close to the wind as possible in terms of exploiting loopholes in the regulations, in order to extract the maximum possible performance, other teams are not so willing to opt for such a risky strategy. Having said that, that risk carries with it the need to place complete faith in your own theories. And not everyone in the Formula 1 paddock is willing to take on that challenge.