According to BMW Sauber, the reason behind the KERS electric-shock incident, seen above, which occurred during testing at the Jerez Speedway, was magic. Or at least, that's what the formal explanation looks like if you don't have a solid knowledge of electrical engineering. We're pretty good at chasing sparks and figuring out circuits, but wading through the engineer-speak is a toughy here. After slipping on our decoder ring, it sounds like the combination of a bad KERS controller and a leaky capacitor led to some extra electrons floating around. Deadly? No. Enough to shock the crap out of someone, though. See if you can decode it yourself; key quote below the fold.
"The mechanic suffered an electric shock after touching the sidepod and steering wheel of the car. There was a high frequency AC voltage between these contact points, the cause of which has been traced back to the KERS control unit and a sporadic capacitive coupling from the high-voltage network to the 12-volt network. The voltage ran through the wiring of the 12-volt network to the steering wheel and through the carbon chassis back to the control unit."
See, we told you: Magic. [F1-Live]