Most teams may not use KERS in Australia
One high-level source a few days ago suggested that BMW-Sauber, seemingly the strongest advocate of the new energy-recovery technology, could be the only team committed to using KERS in Australia.
But even the team's driver Robert Kubica, concerned that his excessive height and therefore weight could hinder him in 2009, hints that KERS is far from a closed topic.
2008 constructors' champions Ferrari, openly critical of the voluntary KERS deployment next year, is yet to track test a working system, and admits the development phase has cost "much more" than initially thought.
"Our goal is to be ready with a working KERS for the first race, meanwhile we're also appraising the car without KERS," technical director Aldo Costa admitted.
Given the weight disadvantage of the 2009-style KERS systems, Kubica suggests that Ferrari's approach is not unique.
"We have to see in the later stages when we are closer to the first race which configuration is the quicker one — I think this is the most important issue," the Polish racer told F1's official website.