Alpine is satisfied with its new engine
Alpine reassured itself on its new engine during the Barcelona tests. While Laurent Rossi had announced having bet everything on performance, the sports director, Alan Permane, remained confident before the Bahrain tests.
This is certainly the engine manufacturer that we were expecting the most from. Renault, after Red Bull terminated their partnership in 2019, now only provides engines to Alpine, their subsidiary. The lack of performance (and reliability) of the French manufacturer’s power unit prevented Renault, and now Alpine, from competing at the top of the standings. This season is crucial for the team, which finished fifth in the constructors’ championship in 2021. The sports director, Alan Permane, sought to reassure in an interview with Autosport.
« We didn’t drive at full power. I don’t believe we had a single lap in “ICE” mode, which is the qualifying and race mode. We got close, but never fully achieved it.
Alan Permane also spoke about the new engine, which is designed differently than in previous years. For 2022, Alpine has taken inspiration from Mercedes and separated the turbocharger and the compressor. This is very different from anything that the Viry factory had produced before. It is more complex, and certainly looks more beautiful and refined, but the engine integrates well with the car, which is a good thing. The drivers have made comments about the handling, some turbo oversupply and lag here and there, but the guys have sorted that out by playing with the settings and the mapping to make it disappear.
The new fuel regulations, which must contain 10% ethanol, make it difficult to compare the performance of this season to that of 2021. « The engine has not been a talking point, and that’s a good thing, Permane praised. « It’s very difficult for the drivers to compare performance to last year because of the fuel changes and the difference in power. But we have no reason to complain, we are very happy with our engine. »
