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May 23rd
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Marussia set to go KERS-less in 2012

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The Marussia Formula One team will not run with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System on their car for the 2012 season, with the team deciding that the boost system was too expensive to form part of their design this season.

Marussia did not run KERS in 2011 as Virgin Racing, despite the technology coming back into F1 after being shelved for the 2010 campaign, with none of F1's three new teams opting for the technology.

The three teams spent most of the season stuck at the back of the grid, missing the six seconds of power boost that the rest of the field benefitted from.

And while Caterham and HRT plan to run with KERS for the first time in 2012, Marussia team boss John Booth has confirmed that his team will not adopt the technology onto their new MR01 car.

The Englishman explained that the team's overhaul of their design philosophy for 2012, with ex-Renault man Pat Symonds joining the team to develop their new car, was seeing them aim for big gains over the smaller advantage KERS would offer.

"With the strides we are looking to make from this year, our focus has to be on aerodynamics first and foremost - as this will yield the greater gains," Booth explained to the Autosport website this week.

He added: "We are looking for seconds [of improvement] rather than tenths."

But Booth also admitted that the main reason for the Russian-owned team to not run with the system was down to the prohibitive cost of developing or sourcing a KERS device.

"Our wider view of KERS is that whilst we are supportive of the concept of regenerative braking as an environmental initiative, the current technology is incredibly expensive," he muttered mournfully.

"It would represent a significant proportion of our operating cost, which is not in keeping with our original manifesto as a low-cost F1 team in an era of resource restriction."

Marussia have already confirmed that they will delay the launch of their new car until the final pre-season test of the winter in early March.

The team has finished last in the constructors championship in both of their seasons in the sport so far, despite being ostensibly quicker than their HRT rivals.