Although the Alpine A522 smoked spectacularly on the last day, the French are satisfied with the test – The new Renault engine has not been a big issue so far
Alpine provided spectacular images on the final day of Formula 1 testing in Barcelona. After Fernando Alonso had to park the A522 in the morning, a lot of smoke developed. Despite this unpleasant ending, Alpine is satisfied with the first winter test.
The focus of interest was, among other things, the new Renault engine, which this year also relies on the split-turbo concept for the first time. “We haven’t run it at full power yet,” reported Alpine sporting director Alan Permane, who said the new engine is “completely different” to its predecessors.
“It’s completely different to anything Viry has produced before. It’s more complex and definitely looks better and more elegant,” says Permane, who reveals that the power unit was not a big topic of discussion internally over the three days in Barcelona – which he takes as a good sign.
There were no major problems or complaints from the drivers. The feedback from the pilots had been “normal”, there had only been small things that had not been right. “The guys then played around a bit with the setting and mappings and so on and it was gone,” Permane said.
Overall, therefore, he says he is “very pleased” with the new engine, which Renault hopes will close the gap to the top this year. Especially the first day of testing, when Alonso was able to drive 127 laps, was completed “completely without any problems” – although there was no shakedown beforehand.
On Thursday afternoon they were slowed down by a sensor problem on the engine, but even that had almost no effect compared to the major defect on the last day. According to Permane, the gasket problem was “stupid” because it cost almost the entire Friday.
“But it’s an easy problem to fix,” he stresses, explaining that the A522 has been “very reliable” overall. That also applies to the new power unit. The true reliability, however, will only become apparent when the new engine is actually used in a race.