Auto-Racing Update: nearing engine limit doesn’t worry Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso has no worries about exceeding his permitted engine supply limit before the end of this year’s championship run. Fernando has just one Ferrari V8 engine left with four races still to go. He won’t be using another engine after that as each driver is allowed to use only eight engines per year.
Earlier, Ferrari had to alter its engine for the Spanish Grand Prix after a problem in Bahrain and a failure in Malaysia. The Spaniard has only one fresh engine left for the rest of the season while his title rivals, Red Bull and McLaren, have two each.
Most of the teams are expected to take a fresh engine for the Italian Grand Prix, as it is known to be one of the most strenuous circuits of the calendar. This means that Alonso might have to compete for the remaining four races with older units. But still, he is confident of not taking a penalty.
“The engines’ plan is well in control at the moment. With Fingers crossed, if everything stays like this and we know the program for all remaining races, it should be enough with the engines we have. If everything goes normal there would be no problem”, he added.
Fernando Alonso has been in the Formula 1 since 2001 when he first joined Team Minardi for his debut season. Fernando was able to impress everyone then with his outstanding driving even though he wasn’t able to score a single point. He earned himself a spot in Team Renault for 2003.
The 29-year-old became full-time driver for the team and proved that he was the best decision the team had made in their 18-year career. Alonso scored his first win with the team along with 4 podium and 2 pole positions. Critics and other professionals were blown away with his performance, although Renault didn’t had the best running car on track.
Fernando gave another solid performance the following year as he scored 59 points to secure the 4th place in the drivers’ standings with 4 podium and 1 pole positions. He won his first championship in 2005 with the help of 7 wins, 15 podium and 6 pole positions to score a total of 133 points.
The Spaniard continued his dominance the next year also and won the championship for the second time in a row with 134 points and with the help of 7 wins, 14 podium and 6 pole positions. He was the only driver to beat Michael Schumacher after the latter’s 5-year long title-winning streak. Many people believed that he might be the next Ayrton Senna of Formula 1.
That was Fernando career’s highest peak so far. He joined McLaren the following year, the team he always wanted to join since being a kid. Alonso was doing quite well that year but still had many conflicts with the team and his teammate Lewis Hamilton. After a torturous season with McLaren, he returned to Renault for two more years before joining Ferrari in 2010. Renault wasn’t up to the mark during his two years there making it difficult for him to perform.
However, since joining Ferrari, he is currently in 5th place with 141 points, just 41 points behind the leader Hamilton. The Spain-born hopes to score some good points and believes his car will be up to the mark for the next race at Monza. Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari Team Principal has also assured the fans that there is no reason to worry as the team will most probably be able to pull through the season comfortably.
Meanwhile, Pedro de la Rosa is the only driver to use more than eight engines this season after the Ferrari engine of his Sauber failed at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Tags: