Broadcaster James Allen, conducting the TV unilateral post-qualifying interviews in Australia said to Vettel: "Half a second faster than last year's pole position and you didn't even use the KERS button!"

Vettel's answer did not address the KERS question but later, in the conference for the written media the world champion was asked if it was correct he had not been using KERS.

"We didn't use it in qualifying, that's correct," he said.

Pushed as to why, he added: "Not fully charged." Which may have been the truth but not the whole truth.

The sobering reality for the rest was that, with his pole position margin to second-placed Lewis Hamilton 0.78s as things stood, if Vettel had used KERS it stood to be a full second or more. The pressing question, of course, was why Red Bull hadn't used it. And whether they would be vulnerable off the startline in the race?

Webber did not elaborate. "We didn't run it today for reasons we will keep inside the team," he said.

It has since emerged that the Red Bulls may only be fitted with a very small KERS intended to solve problems of vulnerability on the opening lap. Much of the weight and bulk of the other systems surround the rapid recharge battery packs that have to be run.

As McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh explained, they in themselves present cooling problems, which afflicted Hamilton, who finished his Melbourne qualifying lap with 40% of his KERS capacity unused.

"Lewis had a KERS hybrid failure which was actually a bit of a double whammy - not only do you lose the boost but it changes the brake balance too," Whitmarsh explained. There was a problem with the cooling system and if that happens the KERS batteries can cook themselves and go bang, so there's a safety mechanism that shuts it off."

The Red Bulls, meanwhile, may be fitted with a much smaller battery that is trickle charged and can only be used the once, most logically on the opening lap to defend against other cars with KERS systems. That would explain why there was no evidence of KERS being deployed by Red Bull in qualifying. It could be a neat and logical step for a team that expected its cars to start races at the front, but which preferred to do without the weight, packaging and aerodynamic compromises associated with a full-blown KERS package.

The 2011 season could end with a back-to-back double header in the Arabian peninsula, according to the latest reports.

Even though the turmoil in Bahrain is still ongoing, and the FIA's May deadline for a race rescheduling has entered its final month, the reports say moves are afoot to reshuffle the end of the calendar.

Italiaracing said the most likely scenario now for a rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix would also involve rescheduling November's nearby Abu Dhabi race.

The report said the Yas Marina event could be pushed back to December, with Brazil's currently season-ending date brought forward to close the gap.

The final two calendar stops could then be Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, separated on the map by mere hundreds of kilometers, run back-to-back.

"We'll have a look and see what we can do, how we can swap things round a bit," Bernie Ecclestone said last month. "Maybe we can change with Brazil or something like that."

In February, Abu Dhabi motor federation president Mohammed ben Sulayem said Yas Marina was open to helping Bahrain find a rescheduled date in 2011.

"Finding time in the calendar is feasible," he said.

"Originally, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain agreed to have a big separation on the calendar to make the most of the exposure that a Grand Prix brings. However, this is an emergency and in an emergency we need to work together," he added.

Italiaracing, however, said the teams might be reluctant to see the schedule extended into December.