Formula 1
Alpine explains why it has burned through F1 exhaust allocation
The Alpine Formula 1 team remains confident it can manage its remaining engine exhausts in order to avoid grid penalties in 2021, despite having used more than its rivals.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Aug 23, 2021, 11:22 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Teams are allowed to use eight exhausts during the season before they face grid penalties, and Alpine has already gone through seven for Esteban Ocon and five for teammate Fernando Alonso.
No other team has used more than four in the first 11 grands prix of the planned 23-race season.
Alpine's executive director Marcin Budkowski has explained that the team was forced to use more exhausts than expected at the start of the year because of reliability worries, but says the problem has now been solved.
He concedes, however, that the situation has left the team "exposed" for the remainder of the year.
"We had an issue at the beginning of the year which meant that we limited the mileage of our exhausts to avoid failure during the race," said Budkowski after the Hungarian GP won by Ocon.
"And so we have introduced a few exhausts at the beginning of the year to contain the risk. We believe we solved this issue now with a spec of exhaust we introduced during the season.
"What we're doing now is really managing the pool. We have a number of exhausts per car for the season, we just need to manage it. And effectively you manage them between practice sessions, qualifying, race, by having a bit more resources in your pool you can use them in the most efficient way for the rest of the season.
"So touch wood, we don't expect to take penalties this season. But obviously, as we've used a few more than we would have liked to at the beginning of the season, then we are exposed."
Read Also:
- Why Alpine's defining F1 moment still isn't enough
- What Alpine found to turn around Ocon's F1 slump
- The trait displayed by F1’s newest winner to earn Alpine’s trust
Alpine is the only team using Renault engines this year after McLaren switched to Mercedes power, and Budkowski admits some of its rivals have managed to make improvements that the French manufacturer has been unable to make as a result of using an engine design from 2019.
Renault will introduce an all-new engine for 2022 after having been forced to delay the planned introduction this year because of problems related to the pandemic.
While Budkowski backs the decision, he concedes it has inevitably led to losing ground to rival engines this season.
Asked by Motorsport.com to rate where the Renault engine stacks up compared to its rivals' power units, Budkowski said: "I'm not gonna answer this one directly. We have a competitive analysis. And we have a fairly good idea of where we stack in terms of power, but also in terms of energy management, weight and packaging and things like this.
"But it's a 2019 engine we are using. As a result some of our competitors made gains that we haven't.
"So we're in a slightly non-ideal situation where we had to delay our new power unit, which has beyond improvements to propulsive power and energy management, the kind of usual things that make quicker on a straight line has also a new architecture and changes that are designed to address some of our weaknesses compared to our competitors.
"But we didn't have the resources to relaunch the development programme on this year's engine and continue to work on the 2022 engines. So we've decided to put all our efforts on 2022. So it's a strategic decision.
"I believe it's the right one but it's painful, because as a result this year we lost ground compared to our competitors."
Alpine sits fifth in the constructors' championship after its victory in Hungary, but nearly 100 points behind fourth-placed McLaren.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Newey: Politicking against Red Bull at level never seen before in F1
Next article Sainz: 2021 “doesn't feel like my strongest season in F1”
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Pablo Elizalde
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
MotoGP
MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
Ocon wants answers to understand pace slump against Alpine team-mate
Formula 1
Formula 1
Ocon wants answers to understand pace slump against Alpine team-mate
More from
Alpine
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
Latest news
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
15 min
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 h
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe