“Again, car number 14 again…”. are words of Fernando Alonso in one of the many retirements that he suffered last season with his Alpine. It was a constant suffering due to some mechanical problems that almost always looked at him and not at his partner, Esteban Ocon.
Those problems prevented him from scoring many more points in the Formula 1 standings. He finished behind Ocon, but the reality is that with a reliable car he would have led the middle of the grid. For this reason, the director and pilots have placed him ahead of his ex-partner in the ranking of the year.
Alpine seems to have located the source of so many problems. Bruno Famin, head of Renault engines, says that it was the water pump. He explains it in ‘Autosport’: “All the other problems we had were much more on the side of the auxiliaries, the water pump, the fuel pump.”
“The water pump has been a headache throughout the season. We improved it as much as we could in 2022, but it was clearly not enough”, they assume from the French team.
And Famin announces that they will change the design for the coming course, already with Pierre Gasley in his car: “It is the concept of the water pump that we have to change and that is what we are going to do in 2023. We hope that all the problems will be solved.”
They aspire to a similar performance next season, but with a car that doesn’t break down every two by three: “I think we’re not going to go back on anything. The goal is to maintain the same level of performance and make everything reliable in the car.”
Alpine has located the bug that gave him so many headaches, above all, to Alonso. Gasly will be attentive so that this does not happen again… and have a calmer season than the last of the two-time F1 champion.