As far as reliability issues go, Fernando Alonso experienced the worst of the worst last year with a shocking six race retirements.
The Spaniard was forced to deal with a very unreliable Alpine power unit which gave him so many problems that he began to count down the days until he could complete his move to Aston Martin in his post-race interviews.
Alpine’s executive director Bruno Famin has now offered an explanation for why the team struggled with their power unit so much, revealing that certain tests and protocols were skipped to allow the engine to be produced on time.
“We took quite a few risk, in fact,” Famin told Motorsport.com.
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“We took a risk by trying to develop an engine that was as light as possible and not going through the full validation process that we would normally do.
“We really wanted to push it to the very last moment, and sometimes a bit too late because he had problems. But we really wanted to push the development as far as possible.
“I think the strategy was right, even if we had some problems. We had problems in Singapore; two, actually, which were very strange because to have two different problems in eight laps was unbelievable.
“But all the other problems we had were much more on the auxiliary equipment side: water pump, fuel pump… And we’re quite optimistic that we’ll be able to solve those problems by 2023.”
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Renault given Alpine’s new driver pairing of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon some good news ahead of the 2023 season, telling the team that their reliability woes will be no more this year.
The focus for most engine providers will be on designing a power unit to compete after the major regulation changes come into effect in 2026, however Renault have confirmed that they will be solving the reliability issues of Alpine’s current attention before switching their attention to 2026.
The A523 will be launched by Alpine on February 16th and the team will have high hopes about the upcoming season, as they look to become regulars on the podium in F1’s new era.