Trouble grows for Alpine and Alonso: 'This is a big hit'

For Fernando Alonso, the winter test in Barcelona is probably over. The Spaniard stalled in the final sector with a smoking A522 and Jolyon Palmer doesn't expect us to see Alpine back on track any time soon.

The third day of the winter test is underway, but for Alonso the test already seems to be over. The man who propagated so much with 'El Plan', has not quite got it right with his team. Alpine itself referred to a problem with the pressure, but the amount of smoke and the fact that the road surface had to be cleaned (because of oil), indicates that there might be something wrong with the engine.

''That's obviously a bit hit for Alpine, I don't think we'll be seeing them back out for awhile. They've been running the car conservatively for the last couple of days and building up impressive mileage, it looked this morning like they were taking the shackles off slightly but Fernando only managed 12 laps before identifying a problem. A very tricky test for them so far,'' said Palmer at Formula1.com.

Although Alpine indeed drove a lot of laps (252) during the first two days of testing, there is not much confidence in the performance yet. The car doesn't seem to be ideally situated on the road surface, nor is it particularly fast. Friday's problems will only cause more headaches for the French team.