If FIA accepts FOTA’s suggestion of dropping the kinetic energy recovery device or KERS in 2010, it would be one of the rare instances in which a newly introduced technology has had such a short life in F1. With many teams yet to introduce KERS on their cars and others having tried and failed to achieve the desirable result, it is clear that the failure of KERS has become a big embarrassment for FIA and some of the teams as well.

It may be recalled that BMW, Williams and Honda were the most vociferous supporters for introduction of KERS this year. BMW looked at KERS as a means of introducing new hybrid technology in road cars. Dr Klaus Draeger, member of the BMW Board of Management, had remarked last August that the new regulations gave the opportunity to use innovative hybrid technology under extreme conditions. “The KERS unit designed for the BMW Sauber is a highly effective variant of brake energy regeneration technology, and is similar in the way it works to the ActiveHybrid technology developed for BMW standard production vehicles,” he had remarked in August last year.

However, the optimism wasn’t shared by all. BMW has been using the energy recovery device on its cars sporadically. Besides the phenomenal cost involved in developing KERS – it is the same as the price of engine – the use of KERS mandated making changes to the ballast in order to compensate for the extra 40 kg of the device. In BMW’s case itself, the team did not fit Robert Kubica’s car with KERS because of the driver’s weight. With the KERS device weighing 40 kg, fitting KERS affected the balance of the car.

It was not that all the manufacturers shared BMW’s belief. Toyota team principal Tadashi Yamashina remarked that KERS in F1 was very different from production cars. “From the beginning I was against this idea for KERS, just on cost grounds. There are development costs and learning costs. KERS and the hybrid system in road cars are very different. Some people have mentioned that through the development of F1 KERS, in the future production cars will have the same type of KERS but I don't believe that,” he had opined.

In December 2008, Ferrari boss Luca Di Montezemelo had apprehensions about the new system terming its introduction in 2009 a mistake. “Whatever we discover there is nothing in common between F1's KERS and road car KERS,” he was quoted as saying.

After FOTA decided to drop KERS for 2010, BMW team principal Mario Theissen said that they had voted in favour of KERS but they would go with the majority decision in FOTA to drop KERS.

Now that KERS has failed on the track – both Brawn and Red Bull have not fitted the system on their cars even for a single race – it would be interesting to know the reaction of FIA boss Max Mosley whose enthusiasm for KERS was unmatched. Mosley had even gone to the extent of terming KERS revolutionary.

“This hybrid device [KERS] is set to revolutionise F1. It will make the sport at once more environmentally friendly, road relevant, and at the cutting edge of future automotive technology,” he was quoted as saying in support of the new system.