I haven't been watching too many F1 events until this weekend at Texas. The Drag Reduction and Kinetic Energy systems are interesting. Can they be used on each lap of a race, and can they be used together? Ie: on overtaking can the 'attacking' driver push both buttons at once? Why wouldn't they? I thoughht I heard the announcers says approx 6.67 seconds, is that per lap or per race event?

That's how I understand it too. Add in some stuff about the DRS detection line and having to be within 1 second of the car in front of you for the DRS to be activated and you know what I know. It makes for more passing certainly but the KERS system seems to be un-necessary. If everyone's got it then why does anyone/everyone need it ? I guess it's one more power adder that you have to learn how and when to use to maximize it's advantage, but as in Mark Weber's failure to complete yesterday's race it was the reason (or one of the reason) he had an unexpected and uncommon DNF.

I hate the artificial add-ons as much as anyone, but would you prefer the bore fest races of 3 or 4 seasons ago?

And yeah, it's a bit of green wash to use KERS to appear greener, given how wasteful the sport is. But KERS has trickled over and helped develop some of the technology they're using in LeMans hybrids, which eventually will trickle down to road cars... Meh.

Kers is a strategic tool, it's interesting to see how it can be used both defensively and to overtake. The DRS is harder to justify, doesn't make sense to give the car behind such a great advantage, but with modern aerodynamics, it's so hard to overtake without it. They're so aero dependent that being in the dirty air is a huge disadvantage. Cars would catch up to the lead car and be a second faster, but get close enough and you lose downforce in the dirty air.

KERS can be used for a few seconds every lap and gives an 80hp boost if I remember right.. The 6.7 second counter gets reset at the start finish. Recharges under braking, but they're more limited by the time limit set by the rules than the amount of braking energy they can accumulate.

DRS is enabled in the dry and a couple laps after the start/restart. The tracks have a DRS detection line - if a car is within 1 second of the car in front, they can use the DRS system on the following straight.. It flattens one of the rear wing planes which reduces drag.. Depending on setup, it can increase top speed by around 20km/h or more!

DRS can be used freely in practice and qualy, but that's changing next year, as the drivers feel it's getting too dangerous and have asked for a rule change. Basically they're opening the rear wing sooner and sooner out of every corner, eventually someone is going to back it into a wall at 190mph..