The Weekly Grapevine

Concluding a four-part investigation into the progress of the development of the KERS system for its introduction into Formula One next season, Dieter Rencken spoke to electrical systems supplier Magneti Marelli's motorsport managing director Roberto Dalla

That the introduction of Formula One-compliant kinetic energy recovery systems by the first 2009 race (provisionally at end-March) will be a major challenge for the sport's ten teams is evidenced by the reams of column inches dedicated to the subject since early January.

Early on it became clear that teams faced three choices:

• develop full mechanical systems whereby a flywheel is spooled up under braking, energy is in turn released when required as accelerative force

• effectively adapt hybrid systems of the type fitted to Honda's Hybrid Civic and the Toyota Prius, which rely upon a composite motor/generator, an electronic control unit, and an energy storage device (either supercapacitors or lithium ion battery cells)

• go for a full KERS bypass, thereby saving development, installation, and running costs (estimated by a technical director as costing minimum $30m plus $250,000 per car per race), and saving up to 40kg in weight, with commensurate benefits in terms of pure performance.

Williams Hybrid system © Flybrid

A fourth option, namely electric installation using a flywheel as energy storage device soon reared its head, with Williams shortly thereafter announcing that it had bought a share in Automotive Hybrid Power (renamed Williams Hybrid Power) in order to develop their own system in-house.

The majority of teams, though, have settled on buying in proprietary KERS systems, with the full electric technology developed by Italy's Magneti Marelli getting the most mentions whenever the subject is raised in the Formula One paddock.

Although the company is bound by confidentiality agreements with its customers, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Gruppo Fiat (since 1967) and primary supplier to Ferrari. Indications are thus that MM will supply the Italian team, whose engine director, Gilles Simon, recently admitted that Ferrari were 'struggling' with their KERS system.

In addition, Ferrari customer teams Toro Rosso and Force India are expected to toe the 'party line', if only because it makes economic and technical sense, while Renault's close collaboration with Magneti Marelli is expected to result in the motor manufacturer's own team and customer Red Bull Racing using Italian technology, certainly in part.

Toyota have long enjoyed close ties with Magneti Marelli, not least due to the influence of ex-Ferrari engine specialist Luca Marmorini, who now heads up the Japanese team's powertrain department and has admitted to working closely with the Italian automotive electronics giant.

Having directed Ferrari's technical activities for ten years, Honda team principal Ross Brawn knows his way about the corridors of Magneti Marelli's headquarters in Corbetta, Milan and admitted in Singapore that the team's system drew on a combination of in-house and proprietary technology, although the exact split remains undisclosed.

BMW is know to have tested an electric system, but its 'bones' are, at this stage, unknown, while McLaren are believed to be developing both mechanical and electric systems in parallel, aided substantially by engine supplier (and majority shareholder) Mercedes-Benz.

Thus Magneti Marelli could be supplying as many as eight or even nine teams, some with 'full-house' systems, others with a combination of motor-generators and ECU, with still others purchasing individual components from the company which pioneered telemetry for F1.

Magneti Marelli's motorsport managing director Roberto Dalla was at Monza and gave us his update on the latest KERS developments.

Q: When KERS was announced about two years ago, it was obviously an important area for Magneti Marelli. When did you decide to develop a system?

Roberto Dalla: "Quite soon, because the interest of Magneti Marelli in KERS is related, certainly for the business of Formula One, because we want to be as much present as possible. But in parallel, the technology of KERS offers the possibility to develop a technology that has possibilities for the big manufacturers.

"The required technology was known to Magneti Marelli, so we said 'we will start' and then took the opportunity. We think it is a very good idea to develop something that will give benefit in the future - not only in Formula One, but also in road cars.

"It is important to note that to MM, KERS is not only a system to recover energy, but a system which gives the possibility to 'electrify' the car - for example to change the hydraulic actuator to electrical actuator with benefits in terms of cost, performance, and maintenance. So it is the general technology which is important to us to develop."

Q: In terms of KERS, there are two fundamentally different ways of going - mechanical or full electric. There is also a middle of the road system, the way Williams are going. If we concentrate purely on the electric solution, which is obviously Magneti Marelli's forte, within that solution there are three basic units: the motor generator, the control unit, and the energy storage device - which can be either battery or capacitor. Will Magneti Marelli be looking at supplying all three units?

Control loop schematic © Magneti Marelli

Dalla: "We started looking at all three and we have the possibility - not only for Formula One - to propose a turn-key solution. But, of course, F1 is a business in which customisation is very important and the integration between the component and the car is very important, so Magneti Marelli gave and is giving our teams the opportunity of using the whole or part of the system.

"In particular, we are making it attractive for them to use our components mainly in the areas in which we are particularly strong - which is electronics and the electronic controls.

"On the battery side, batteries are not the core business of MM, so in any case we would have put on the table a solution based on links, so that is the reason why we could propose a complete solution, but at this moment the two main areas of interest are the ECU and the motor/generator."

Q: So you will leave it to the teams to decide whether they want to go battery or capacitor. Would they have to source these items elsewhere, or will you be in a position to supply capacitors?

Dalla: "No, not at all. The area we will take care of is the integration of the Magneti Marelli components and the teams' component to ensure that it works fine, technically speaking. And let me say, this is also a characteristic of the system because it is in a way a wide-open system, which can be connected to different battery solutions to achieve the same performance. (So it offers the teams full flexibility)."

Q: So if I'm a team boss, I can come to you and can buy either the motor/generator, and/or the ECU, but for the battery/storage device I have to go elsewhere? But here you can advise me?

Dalla: "Correct. Providing more detail: the battery can be split (from the total system), but the split between motor/generator and ECU is much more difficult. The electronics provide the brain for the motor generator and we are more and more going in a direction where motor generator and ECU must stay together, with the energy device being a separate item."

Q: I believe technical directors are moving in a direction of incorporating engine, transmission, and KERS into one unit. And in future, they will look at the powertrain as a composite unit. Will MM be moving in a similar direction and getting more involved in, say, transmissions as well?

Dalla: "Let me say that if I take the whole powertrain assembly, it can include KERS and all sorts of other components which are, at the moment, all sorts of add-ons. Because you have the engine and you have the transmission, and you have to add the rest. The moment you see the full powertrain system you will start seeing the integration, so I am pretty sure I that KERS will not be an add-on, but will be able to take over the functions of all sorts of other items like the standard car battery and alternators."

Q: This will obviously have all sorts of benefits for road car production?

BMW Sauber testing KERS © XPB

Dalla: "Yes, but the other thing is that this will then be a sort of propulsion system, so I am sure we will be able manage the total propulsion generator better, and I can see all sorts of possibilities in this regard."

Q: Moving onto the F1 system, how many teams are you planning to supply next year?

Dalla: "An important thing for us at Magneti Marelli is our confidentiality. I have no problem talking about what is totally in our control, but we don't talk about what is outside our control. But I can say we are proud that we have many teams."

Q: I have it from a good source that you are looking at supplying six teams next year. Your comment to that?

Dalla: "I can say to you that today we are in a good position."

Q: Many people have indicated that the KERS system, as announced and as per the regulations as they still exist for next year, is pretty crude. That it is nowhere near its full potential. How does Magneti Marelli feel about that? Should KERS go beyond the present 60 kiloWatt/80 horsepower level?

Dalla: "My belief is that we had to start on something on an item where nobody knew precisely what it could provide. One year ago, two years ago, an envelope was defined and I am pretty sure that that is only the starting point. In future, and this is also what our development is showing, the envelope will change as we learn better how to use the system and the benefits. It will all be one part of the development (of KERS)."

Q: Some of the teams are indicating that they may not be ready to race with KERS in Australia, in the first race next year. Will Magneti Marelli be totally ready to supply its teams by then?

Dalla: "It is a team decision (whether they do) and I don't want to enter that discussion. We are strongly working in order that they are able to race from the first race, but it is a complex system and I can understand that there could be some worries."

Q: But Magneti Marelli will be ready, totally, for the first race?

Dalla: "Yes."

Q: So if the teams decide not to race, it will be totally a team decision?

Dalla: "Well, it is a team job, a joint thing, and I don't want to place any problem on the teams' side. If we succeed (to race at the first race), we succeed together, and if we don't succeed, we don't succeed together."

Alex Wurz driving a KERS equipped Honda © XPB

Q: Can you give me any indication of price.

Dalla: "No."

Q: Is it more expensive that you expected?

Dalla: "I cannot say, for at this moment it could be an answer which could be right or it could be wrong. We have to wait a little bit more because the planning and evaluation we did was for the long term, not for the short term, and only when development is complete will I be able to answer the question."

(A technical director, though, indicated that costs to date had exceeded earlier estimates by a factor of about three, due to 'the inevitable unforeseen items' plus the costs of preparing dedicated test cars and engines. In addition, said TD felt the cost of investigating all alternatives in terms of the three options, plus a raft of different energy storage devices meant that 'unproductive money' had been spent on avenues that would eventually be discarded. He put the cost of KERS at 'two or three multiples of $10m' per team.)

Q: Has your system been tested on-track yet?

Dalla: "We did a lot of tests with our teams, we did a lot of internal tests and tests with our teams."

Q: On-track? In a car?

Dalla: "On benches, sure, and on the track, I am not allowed to answer - that is the job of our teams to answer that."

Magneti Marelli motorsport managing director Roberto Dalla was talking to Dieter Rencken at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix weekend.