Alpine’s preseason goes awry, irremediably, when the car begins to smoke and Alonso parks it in the loophole. The A522 caused a red flag on Friday morning, the last day of pre-season testing, and everything points to a power unit that had exceeded 250 laps. “Fernando asked to stop the car after reporting a loss of pressure. It has been recovered for the garage and we will investigate the problem”, the Enstone team hastened to clarify. Then Fernando was second in the time table with a 1:21.242 as the best record, although he had barely completed 12 laps. In the afternoon, In theory, the turn of piloting corresponds to Esteban Ocon.
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The Fernando Alonso incident in pictures
The Spanish driver’s car broke down during the tests carried out this morning at the Montmeló circuit. The commissioners have had to come out with the fire extinguishers.
Photo:
REUTERS / ALBERT GEA
The Spanish driver’s car broke down during the tests carried out this morning at the Montmeló circuit. The commissioners have had to come out with the fire extinguishers.
Photo:
Getty Images/Rudy Carezzevoli
The Renault engine is completely new and is expected to provide a performance jump, because it has not been touched since 2019. The problem is that, when the specifications were frozen at the Bahrain GP for five years, it is convenient for the factories to homologate a model with more performance and less reliability. Updates can be introduced that improve reliability and consolidate the horses that were already there previously, but not the other way around.
“You have to combine performance with finishing the races”
AS asked Fernando about this new engine on Thursday: “We think we have a step forward in the engine, in power and in everything. The engine has been updated in several areas and we hope to be more competitive on that side and maintain reliability, which It was one of our strongest points of the car. If you remember the races, we had no problem in 2021. You have to combine those things, performance and finish the races. Also, we have new fuel and we have all lost benefits with the new fuel that we have to recover”, said the two-time Spanish champion. There were doubts about the engine because it is known that the fuel conversion gave problems in the factory and in the power bank there were a few failures during the last months. The recurring personnel changes in the team don’t help either.
In these tests in Barcelona, the Alpine has not stood out in the time tables, although they had not had any relevant problems until Friday’s breakdown, which is the most important of a 2022 car during preseason. The shoots went well, with long runs every day, although the A522 was discreet in its behavior and did not resemble more nimble cars like the Red Bull or Ferrari. In any case, new parts will arrive at the Bahrain tests. The season hasn’t even started and it’s not a good idea to jump to conclusions. After all, they are just tests.