McLaren baffled amid Red Bull ’start-KERS’ talk

Martin Whitmarsh on Saturday admitted he was baffled after it emerged Red Bull had not used KERS in qualifying.

It is believed the dominant reigning champions may be using an innovative super-compact energy-recovery system that is charged in the pits only for the run to the first corner in grands prix.

The RB7 would theoretically not then benefit from the horse power boost during qualifying and the races, but be able to run lighter and with a better brake-balance than those teams utilising full race-spec KERS systems.

Told that pole sitter Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Mark Webber did not use KERS on their qualifying hot-laps, McLaren team boss Whitmarsh answered: "I see no logical reason why.

"It makes no sense," he told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

"But, actually, we don’t really know what’s going on in the garage next to ours."