Alpine hopes to prevent repeat of engine issues Alonso through repairs

Fernando Alonso was forced to pull his Alpine car over in Saudi Arabia. The water pump turned out to have caused a problem in the internal combustion engine, making it unsalvageable. Alpine hopes to prevent a recurrence by making the necessary repairs to the component.

The Spaniard was already driving with a new internal combustion engine (ICE) in Jeddah, but has thus been able to immediately discard it. As a precautionary measure, the engine with which Alonso drove in Bahrain was also examined, but was approved for future use.

Alpine does not expect a repeat of the water pump failure, according to team boss Otmar Szafnauer in conversation with Autosport.com. However, given the lost engine in Jeddah, a grid penalty later in the season seems inevitable, as a maximum of three may be used in a season.

It was an easy repair, which Szafnauer says only makes it more frustrating. After all, the relatively small part caused major damage. The team boss says he is already preparing for a possible grid penalty later in the year and wants to time it as favorably as possible.