During the 2017 Australian Grand Prix press conference, Fernando Alonso joked about his desire to see all teams in F1 compete using the same engine. Lewis Hamilton, however, who was having the time of his life with Mercedes, refused to share Alonso’s wish. But now, six years later, Alonso’s former team Alpine is working hard to get equal engines for all teams in the upcoming engine regulations.
Alpine [formerly Renault] uses Renault engines for their F1 challenger. The power units manufactured by the French company lack a lot in terms of horsepower when compared to Honda, Mercedes, or Ferrari’s products.
According to Spanish media outlet Minutod, Renault’s engine lacks 20-33 horsepower against its competitors. Alpine don’t have a shortage of funds after the recent acquisition made by Ryan Reynolds’ consortium. Still, they won’t be able to bolster their engine’s performance as per these reports. Hence, they have decided to approach the FIA to make the playing field more even.
Renault follows Lewis Hamilton and his wish after six long years
According to recent developments, Renault has asked the FIA to take the idea of having equal engines into serious consideration. Technically, it won’t be possible for these changes to come into the sport till 2025. Hence, they want the 2026 season to start with this particular change implemented.
The FIA still haven’t said anything related to how the engines are going to pan out when the freeze ends in 2025. Renault are making this demand because they are lacking behind. Hence, that could be an important factor taken into consideration before the FIA makes a call. For now, the governing body of F1 is mainly focused on bringing in sustainable e-fuel for the upcoming engines.
F1 teams will hold talks about engine equalisation due to concerns that the Renault engine is significantly down on its rivals.
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However, experts believe that the other engine suppliers will not agree to Alpine’s proposal. They have invested tens and millions of dollars into their powertrains department, and having it all go down the drain is not something they will be happy about.
Renault may not get the required support
New regulations in F1 will be introduced in the 2026 season. These new regulations will see new engine manufacturers like Audi enter the sport. However, it is unlikely that they will support Renault in their conquest for having equal engines.
For now, however, Red Bull are reportedly supporting the French team. According to The Race, team principal Christian Horner said, “If there is a deficit under a homologation, it’s something that we should be sensitive about. Otherwise, you’re locked in for two years [until 2026]. So I wouldn’t be averse to a sensible discussion.”
On the other hand, there will be a cost cap associated with engine development. The existing cap has already caused the teams a lot of trouble. Hence, it is unlikely that they would want to take up more burden, by agreeing to Renault’s idea of having equal engines for all teams.
