When Luca Marmorini was fired by Ferrari last year, he claimed that team strategy was to sacrifice power for aerodynamic efficiency, and we all know how well that worked out. While it sounded an awful lot like an empty excuse at the time, Ferrari's recent upturn in performance suggests that maybe he wasn't full of --- after all.
And Red Bull has a loooooooooong history of energy recovery issues.
In 2009, work on Red Bull's in-house KERS solution was stopped after battery testing caused a fire at the factory. The team subsequently signed an agreement to run Renault's KERS, but never actually used it. That means Red Bull gained zero experience with the processes and conditions associated with energy recovery that year.
In 2011, on the heels of the FOTA-led moratorium on KERS in 2010, Red Bull ran a customized KERS that differed from the Renault system by some 40% and was beset by problems not experienced by other Renault teams.
It's no wonder Adrian Newey said, "If I'm honest, I would rather not have KERS on the car."f1zone.net wrote:Auto Motor und Sport said the foundation of Red Bull's KERS is the Renault system, but it differs in design by 40 per cent to the base unit, which has functioned in the Lotus-Renault essentially without drama so far in 2011.
The report said Newey has packaged KERS unusually compared to the bulk of the field, for example by placing some components to the left and right of the gearbox.
In comparison, Renault's KERS is under the seat, while Red Bull's has suffered from vibration, high temperatures and software glitches.
In 2012, it was reported that Red Bull used floor-mounted supercapactors for energy storage. While this proved to be successful in the short-term, it couldn't have afforded much long-term insight, because supercapacitors run much cooler and are easier to package than batteries; it's why the team used them.
In 2013, Red Bull reliability issues frequently affected both drivers, especially Mark Webber. For example...
Vettel...abc.net.au wrote:"KERS, gearbox, you name it... driving the car so far off the potential is unbelievable and so massively frustrating.
"It's stupid, it's embarrassing and it's a brutal circuit to be out of position.
"We should be challenging for the front row and we're bloody 10th. So ... a pain in the arse.
"It's amazing... all the effort you go to - and it's two weekends on the bounce where you get that."
Webber is widely regarded as the unluckiest man in the pit-lane by paddock regulars after suffering a series of car problems.
The Australian said he now feared he will struggle to improve on 10th in the 70-lap race at a circuit where overtaking is almost as difficult to achieve as it is in Monte Carlo at the Monaco Grand Prix.
"The team have got to get the car operating at the limit tomorrow," he said.
"It's a long race and things need to be functioning correctly. KERS was 50 per cent (of the problem) and there were other things.
"So we managed to tick nearly every bloody box in qualifying and made it hard.
"Hopefully we'll get that sorted for tomorrow, but it's going to be hard to get the result we should do."
All of this is to say it should come as no surprise that Red Bull is once again struggling with energy recovery, a fatal flaw in today's formula. Such problems are nearly as much a part of the team's history as is their storied success, not to mention the fact that they're up against rivals who have more experience with the kind of energy recovery systems currently in use. (Plus, Adrian Newey isn't exactly known for designing bulletproof cars, yanno?)f1fanatic.co.uk wrote:Team principal Christian Horner said the KERS fault would have cost Vettel four to five tenths of a second per lap. “It was unlucky for Sebastian,” he said.
“The KERS we had an issue with this morning, we changed as much as we could. In the first session it failed, in Q1, it came back in Q2. And then in Q3 it failed immediately so both Sebastian’s laps in Q3 were without the KERS so a great performance from him to get the car onto the front row.”
It's for these reasons that I think it's unfair for Red Bull to point the finger at Renault; the team has proven quite capable of making mistakes all on their own. And because of that, I think it's highly unfair for Red Bull to call for "equalization." Such a request amounts to little more than asking for a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, and even Ferrari, the (former?) undisputed World Champions of Whining, haven't asked for that.
(Damn, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be. Sorry.)
