A shocking start:

Further to my posting last week about Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS ) in Formula 1, two separate incidents within a week suggest the engineers have a lot of work ahead of them if the technology is to be ready for introduction on schedule next season.

The first drama occurred last Wednesday at the Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes, England, when a battery problem resulted in a huge cloud of steam and smoke being released. The fire department was called and the entire facility was evacuated. Then today (Tuesday), a KERS test by the BMW-Sauber team at Jerez, Spain, went awry and had to be abandoned after just three laps.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told autosport.com he did not think his team's incident was the first to have occurred: "There are a few other teams around Europe that have had similar issues, but I would far rather it happened in the controlled environment of an R&D rig than on a car at a circuit.

"We are still two months away from putting one of these systems into a car," continued Horner, "and that's why we are working hard on the test bench to make sure all the problems are eradicated and that the components are safe before they go into the car.

"I'm sure you could see some puffs of smoke next year because it is cutting-edge technology, but that is the direction the FIA has chosen to go down. It is cutting-edge and obviously it is a steep learning curve. We have been working on this program for a couple of years now and this was just one minor setback that was swiftly dealt with."

Today at Jerez, after BMW-Sauber test driver Christian Klien had completed a three-lap installation run with a modified '07 chassis, one of the team's mechanics received an electric shock and was thrown to the ground when he touched the car in the pit lane.

The mechanic was taken to the circuit's medical center but was released shortly afterward with no lasting effects.

I'm sure upcoming tests will be treated with some trepidation...