Red Bull considering KERS for Spa

With the Milton Keynes-based outfit locked in a close fight with Brawn GP for the title, the team is now undergoing a detailed investigation into whether fast-tracking KERS onto the car for next weekend's race at Spa-Francorchamps will give it an advantage.

Although earlier this season it appeared that F1 was shying away from KERS, the role the regenerative energy devices played in Lewis Hamilton's recent Hungarian GP victory has forced a rethink.

And Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner has confirmed to AUTOSPORT that a decision will be made in the next few days about what to do for Spa - where KERS is expected to produce a considerable benefit.

"We continue to evaluate KERS on an ongoing basis," he explained. "Obviously KERS' performance at the last race and probably here are making an obvious benefit, so it is something we have not abandoned for this year.

"We have the system there and are evaluating the system on a race-by-race basis."

When asked what the chances were of Red Bull giving KERS the green light for a shock introduction in Belgium, Horner said: "We will evaluate it after this weekend."

AUTOSPORT understands that Red Bull Racing is the only team that is transporting its cars back to its factory in between the European Grand Prix and Belgium next weekend.

Should Red Bull Racing give the green light to KERS then it could swing the world championship momentum in its favour - as Brawn GP has ruled out being able to run the technology this year.

Team principal Ross Brawn told AUTOSPORT: "Due to the modifications we had to do to the car to fit the engine, we piled a lot of weight into it and we do not have the weight capacity to run KERS. So unfortunately it is not an option for us."

When asked how decisive the KERS factor could be, especially with tracks like Spa and Monza coming up on the calendar, he said: "If it catches fire it could be completely bad for them. It is quite a challenge to introduce it in the middle of the season with no testing."