• Australian Grand Prix

Red Bull didn't run KERS - Horner

Sebastian Vettel led away comfortaly at the start despite not having KERS © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Australian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Christian Horner

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Christian Horner put an end to speculation surrounding Red Bull by admitting that the team did not run KERS at all on Saturday or Sunday.

After Sebastian Vettel took pole position in qualifying without the system, observers started speculating that the team had a 'mini-KERS' battery that would be charged overnight and only used for the run down to turn one at the start of the race. After Vettel took victory on Sunday though, Horner said that was not the case.

"We haven't had KERS on at all this weekend," Horner told the BBC. "We didn't want to tell anybody, but looking at the start, it didn't look like we needed it. We were a bit nervous about telling everybody before the race. We ran it on Friday and we weren't happy with the reliability, we felt it was a potential risk, so we took it off both cars and didn't race it at all this weekend."

With all of the other established teams using the full system, it will have been with some risk that Red Bull opted not to run it. But Horner said its unreliability was down to chief designer Adrian Newey forcing the unit to fit in to the car, with the aerodynamics given priority over a power boost.

"We made a decision with the KERS. It's quite a complex system, it's an interesting technology, but Adrian being Adrian would not compromise the car around the system so it has had to fit into his aero shape and that's presented some bigger challenges. But the guys have done a fantastic job in Milton Keynes and testimony to their hard work that we've turned out and been reliable and dominated the race."

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