The 2022 season has been marked in the red on Alpine ‘s calendar for a number of years now, however it seems that things have not started the way they wanted, neither in terms of performance related to the car nor the reliability and power of the new engine.
Despite the apparent satisfaction that the team breathes, the A522 chassis has a series of shortcomings that still distances them from the leading positions, while on the side of the new Renault engine, it has so far caused more problems. what joys
After the Bahrain Grand Prix in which Fernando Alonso managed to cross the finish line in ninth position, Alpine engineers discovered a problem in the power unit that was integrated into the Asturian pilot’s A522.
In the absence of more official data, the propellant suffered a leak in one of the engine seals and to avoid a more important fault that could have ended in an abandonment, the structure decided to change the ICE and send that power unit back to the equipment factory located in France for a more detailed analysis.
“It will be put back into the engine pool for use later in the season. Fernando will not be penalized this weekend and Esteban’s ICE was completely unaffected by this matter,” Alpine explained.
In this way, Alpine has confirmed that Alonso is debuting a completely new power unit in Jeddah this weekend, although fortunately he will not incur a penalty as it is the second of the season, still staying within the limits established by the FIA for all 2022.
In the Barcelona tests, the new Renault engine already left the Spanish driver stranded at the beginning of the last day of testing, also due to a hydraulic leak, according to team sources.
The French structure will now have to study its new power unit in search of the reason that until now has caused several hydraulic leaks and that, luckily for them, have not directly affected their results on the track.
The next Formula 1 race will be the Australian Grand Prix that will take place in two weeks, specifically on the weekend of April 10, a sufficient margin of time for Alpine and Renault to investigate the causes of these leaks that are repeated In the future it could be very bad news for both Alonso and Ocon .
