Formula 1 Japanese GP
Alpine paying price for "courageous" F1 engine development push
Alpine chief technical officer Pat Fry says that the team is paying the inevitable price for a "courageous" development push with Renault's Formula 1 engine.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Oct 31, 2022, 9:33 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Renault engine lagged behind rivals over the past couple of seasons, but the powertrain division in Viry took a big step over the winter, and this season its performance has been greatly improved.
However, there have been ongoing reliability issues, and both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon dropped out of the points with engine failures in Singapore.
Alonso is likely to have to take another new PU and thus a grid penalty, possibly in Austin, although the team hopes that Ocon can make it to the end of the season with no new elements.
"There are always teething problems," Fry told Motorsport.com at Suzuka. "Obviously we took a lot on this year, changing a huge amount. And we're a huge amount better off in terms of performance for what was done over the last couple of years, really.
"Some great work has gone on, but it was always done knowing that we'd chase performance and reliability we'll fix. And I think that's a courageous way about moving forward, isn't it? Every now and then you get caught out, as everyone does."
Worryingly for Alpine and Renault, the two failures that occurred in Singapore were not related.
"We discovered it was two different problems, things happened differently," said Ocon. "It is frustrating to not finish the race, especially with everything that happened on the later part. But the most important thing is that the car is performing in the end.
"We have a car which is great, we've brought some updates that are working. So the car is competitive.
"We just need to run two normal weekends, on both sides. And to score the points that we can with the car we have, because it's more than possible.
"What I know is that we had a couple of issues in that race at the start, and obviously the failure later on. So it's not something that normally happens because the engine normally ran smoothly in the rest of the year."
Fry noted that the Renault engineers already understand what failed in Singapore, and are now working on why it happened.
"They were different problems," he said. "The engines were back on Tuesday lunchtime, stripped and understood, and we're working on it.
"The issues are relatively new, I would say. They need to be understood, and until you dig into what the root cause is, you're never quite sure, are you? So you've got to do your analysis properly."
Asked if Singapore's heat and humidity played a role Fry said: "It's too early to say. I mean, it's hard to believe it is that, but we really don't know, to be honest."
The team now had to decide how far it can run its remaining PUs, and whether or not the Singapore issues will reduce their life cycle.
Read Also:
- Hamilton: Mercedes 2021 title hopes held back by not pursuing $500,000 upgrade
- Verstappen: Honda "never really left" F1 given Red Bull ties
- Vettel would "seriously consider" chance for one-off F1 return at Suzuka
Alonso looks set to require a new one come what may, although the team hasn't made a final call yet.
"I think that's until we understand the problem it's hard to answer that question truthfully to be honest," said Fry when asked about potential changes.
"I honestly don't know. At the moment, I don't think we need to take any penalties here.
"Esteban has got some reasonable mileage left, Fernando, we need to have a think. But again, it all comes down to what the analysis says. Do we suddenly drop mileage or not? It's hard to know at the moment until all that work has been done."
Ocon remains hopeful that he can make it to the last race without further penalties.
"I should be alright," said the Frenchman. "Fingers crossed until the end of the year, but the plan can change quickly, you don't know."
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 Alonso has no doubts regarding FIA after F1 cost cap delay
Next article Tickets now on sale for 2023 F1 Monaco Grand Prix
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
F1 United States GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
36 min
F1 United States GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
2026 F1 United States Grand Prix starting grid
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
45 min
2026 F1 United States Grand Prix starting grid
F1 2026 qualifying head-to-head: United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
58 min
F1 2026 qualifying head-to-head: United States GP
F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes pole with George Russell sixth
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes pole with George Russell sixth
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