Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets at Jerez yesterday as F1 testing got underway at the Spanish circuit. The Toro Rosso driver was quickest ahead of McLaren’s Gary Paffett, Ferrari’s Luca Badoer and Williams’s Nico Hülkenberg.

BMW, who were running test driver Christian Klien, halted early after a mechanic received an electric shock after coming into contact with the car. The team had been testing the new KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). The mechanic was kept in hospital overnight for observation.

Toyota’s John Howett has doubts over whether KERS will be ready in time for the 2009 season, particularly since BMW’s incident is the second involving the system. Honda’s Ross Brawn also has doubts.

KERS has a performance gain but the downside is accommodating and packaging all the various elements. I think the performance gain at the moment is possibly marginal, but then we haven’t necessarily explored all the potential of KERS, how it can be used.

It will be interesting to see how the teams make use of KERS, and whether the safety issues can ve resolved before the 2009 season.

British F3 driver Brendon Hartley will switch to the F3 Euroseries with RC Motorsport for this weekend’s race meeting at the Nurburgring. With no clashes between the two series, Hartley may continue to compete in both.
World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx will compete in this year’s Race of Champions at Wembley. Priaulx partnered Jenson Button in last year’s competition.