The teams that have persisted with KERS and made the technology work have created a strategy minefield for their rivals

"If a non-KERS car wins at Monza I'll be seriously impressed," said Jenson Button, some time before the recent flurry of victories for KERS machines. The length of that pit straight and the fact that you can use the boost button once before the start/finish line and again after it, means KERS contributes much more to lap time than at more conventional tracks.

But even at those other circuits the technology has been making for some fascinating dilemmas – both on and off the track – even if it has introduced a horrendous cost to the sport at the most inappropriate time imaginable.

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