Domenicali: KERS a costly flop for F1

Although most of the teams objected to it, the KERS system was introduced in Formula 1 for this season, but just Ferrari used it in the British Grand Prix.

Only Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber and Renault have raced with KERS at some point this year, although other teams have also spent millions developing it.

BMW, who was the only team who refused to join a veto on KERS last year, has decided to give up on the system.

Domenicali said there was no denying its introduction was a mistake.

"Yes. It is too simple to say yes, but that is a fact," Domenicali told reporters at Silverstone. "I think we have to learn from it. One thing is the new technology and the fact that for sure KERS on the one side is the future of the road car side. But we are dealing in an environment that is totally different.

"We are in a racing environment where they are a lot of things, a lot of compromises, that we have to take in order to ensure that this new technology could be beneficial to the performance of the car. At the end of the day, this is what it is all about.

"The reality is that the facts show that KERS in the way that it is now is not ready to be performing in this set of regulations. That is a fact. And, this is something that we need to learn from in the future.

"As we always said, F1 is vital to ensure the technological transfer from the racing division to the road car side, but we need to make sure that this is line with what we have to do to ensure we are winning on the sporting side. So, for the future, before doing certain choices, we have to think carefully because we must not make another mistake."

When asked how much his team has spent in developing KERS, Domenicali said: "I cannot because it is too heavy for me to say that, to be honest. I know that if you put that amount of money into the development of the car, then you would have been fast like Red Bull today! It was millions of Euros."