Alpine F1 "Can FIA understand the impact of PU reliability improvement on performance?"[F1-Gate.com]

The Alpine F1 team has raised questions about the performance impact of reliability updates during the F1 power unit freeze period.

F1 engine development was completely frozen. Engine suppliers will not be allowed to make performance-enhancing updates to F1 power units that will be used until the 2025 season, only changes that solve reliability issues.

But how well can the FIA manage these differences?

With a new car for 2022, the FIA has been pretty lenient on teams with reliability updates. Bruno Famín, Renault’s F1 engine chief, said all the race teams had relatively big reliability problems, so this also makes sense, but FIA checks will be stricter from this season onwards. says he hopes

This is because there are parts in the engine where it is difficult to distinguish between performance and reliability.

“The issue is complex. We don’t know if there is a potential performance gain behind the reliability issue. The boundaries are not always perfectly clear,” Famín told Motorsport Italia. rice field.

Bruno Famin explains that if there is a problem with the water pump, it is very clear that it is a reliability issue.

“After all, a new water pump does not improve performance,” commented Bruno Famin.

“But if we have to change the material of the piston rings, the problem can change, because we can push the engine further and aim for better performance.”

“Where are the limits? It’s not so clear…”