We are only three races into a new season of Formula 1 and though the opening race lacked in drama, the races in Australia and Malaysia were full of it. One man who has had drama in every race is Fernando Alonso. The double world champion needed a new engine in Bahrain, had zero mechanical problems in Melbourne but blew another engine in Malaysia.
It looks like the Spaniard is nearly halfway through his allocation of engines for the 2010 season. The FIA rules state that each driver may use just eight engines throughout the entire 19-race calendar, with ten-place grid penalties applying once the allocation has been exhausted.
After a disastrous outing in Sepang two weekends ago, Ferrari is expected to fit Alonso’s F10 with a fourth new engine, officially leaving him with just four more fresh units in the bag for the remaining fifteen races.
Alonso is quoted as commenting on the engine situation by the Spanish press.
“One is broken, another (the one changed in Bahrain) I can use only in free practices, and the third one (Melbourne) I can use in more races.
“But I am not particularly worried, the team has told me that it (Malaysia) was an isolated failure, and we didn’t have any problems in the pre-season,” added Alonso.
It is expected of any professional world champion to not get worried about a situation, let the team handle it and concentrate on his job of bringing home the trophies and precious points, but one can’t help but wonder what does Ferrari have up their sleeves and whether or not the Italian racing giants will be able to fix the problem before it explodes. Only Shanghai will tell.
Source: GMM
