The Renault engine has lagged behind its rivals for the past two seasons, but the powertrain division at Viry has taken a big step over the winter, and this season its performance has improved significantly.
However, there were lingering reliability issues, and Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon gave up the points with engine failures in Singapore.
Alonso will likely have to take another new PU and therefore a grid penalty, possibly at Austin, although the team will be hoping Ocon can go to the end of the season without new material.
“There are always starting problems,” Fry told Autosport at Suzuka. “Obviously we’ve taken a lot this year, changing a lot. And we’re much better in terms of performance for what’s been done in the last two years, really.
“A great job was done, but it was always done knowing that we were looking for performance – and reliability, we’re going to fix it. And I think that’s a brave way forward, n “Isn’t it? Once in a while, you get trapped, like everyone else.”
Worryingly for Alpine and Renault, the two breakdowns in Singapore were unrelated.
“We found out they were two different issues, things turned out differently,” Ocon said. “It’s frustrating not to finish the race, especially with everything that happened in the last part. But the most important thing is that the car performs well at the end.
“We have a car which is great, we have made some updates which work. So the car is competitive.
“We just need to run two normal weekends, both sides. And score the points we can with the car we have, because that’s more than possible.
“What I know is that we had some problems in this race at the start, and obviously failure later. So it’s not something that normally happens because the engine normally ran without problems. the rest of the year.”
Fry noted that Renault engineers already understand what went wrong in Singapore and are now working on why it happened.
“They were different issues,” he said. “The engines were back Tuesday noon, stripped and figured out, and we are working on it.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
“Issues are relatively new, I would say. They have to be understood, and until you dig into the root cause, you’re never quite sure, are you? So you have to do your parse correctly.”
Asked if Singapore’s heat and humidity played a part, Fry said: “It’s too early to tell. I mean, it’s hard to believe it’s that, but we really don’t know, to be honest.”
The team must now decide how far they can run their remaining PUs and whether or not Singapore’s troubles will shorten their life cycle.
Alonso looks set to demand a new one no matter what, although Alpine has yet to make a final decision.
“Until we understand the problem, it’s hard to honestly answer that question,” Fry said when asked about the potential changes.
“Honestly, I don’t know. At the moment, I don’t think we need to take penalties here.
“Esteban still has reasonable mileage. For Fernando, we have to think. But again, it all depends on what the analysis says. Do we suddenly lose mileage or not? It’s hard to know for the moment until all that work has been done.”
Ocon remains hopeful that he can qualify for the final race without further penalties.
“I should be fine,” said the Frenchman. “Fingers crossed until the end of the year, but the plan can change quickly, you don’t know.”
The Renault engine has lagged behind its rivals for the past two seasons, but the powertrain division at Viry has taken a big step over the winter, and this season its performance has improved significantly.
However, there were lingering reliability issues, and Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon gave up the points with engine failures in Singapore.
Alonso will likely have to take another new PU and therefore a grid penalty, possibly at Austin, although the team will be hoping Ocon can go to the end of the season without new material.
“There are always starting problems,” Fry told Autosport at Suzuka. “Obviously we’ve taken a lot this year, changing a lot. And we’re much better in terms of performance for what’s been done in the last two years, really.
“A great job was done, but it was always done knowing that we were looking for performance – and reliability, we’re going to fix it. And I think that’s a brave way forward, n “Isn’t it? Once in a while, you get trapped, like everyone else.”
Worryingly for Alpine and Renault, the two breakdowns in Singapore were unrelated.
“We found out they were two different issues, things turned out differently,” Ocon said. “It’s frustrating not to finish the race, especially with everything that happened in the last part. But the most important thing is that the car performs well at the end.
“We have a car which is great, we have made some updates which work. So the car is competitive.
“We just need to run two normal weekends, both sides. And score the points we can with the car we have, because that’s more than possible.
“What I know is that we had some problems in this race at the start, and obviously failure later. So it’s not something that normally happens because the engine normally ran without problems. the rest of the year.”
Fry noted that Renault engineers already understand what went wrong in Singapore and are now working on why it happened.
“They were different issues,” he said. “The engines were back Tuesday noon, stripped and figured out, and we are working on it.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
“Issues are relatively new, I would say. They have to be understood, and until you dig into the root cause, you’re never quite sure, are you? So you have to do your parse correctly.”
Asked if Singapore’s heat and humidity played a part, Fry said: “It’s too early to tell. I mean, it’s hard to believe it’s that, but we really don’t know, to be honest.”
The team must now decide how far they can run their remaining PUs and whether or not Singapore’s troubles will shorten their life cycle.
Alonso looks set to demand a new one no matter what, although Alpine has yet to make a final decision.
“Until we understand the problem, it’s hard to honestly answer that question,” Fry said when asked about the potential changes.
“Honestly, I don’t know. At the moment, I don’t think we need to take penalties here.
“Esteban still has reasonable mileage. For Fernando, we have to think. But again, it all depends on what the analysis says. Do we suddenly lose mileage or not? It’s hard to know for the moment until all that work has been done.”
Ocon remains hopeful that he can qualify for the final race without further penalties.
“I should be fine,” said the Frenchman. “Fingers crossed until the end of the year, but the plan can change quickly, you don’t know.”