Former Alpine boss Bruno Famin has revealed that the team is losing around 0.2 seconds per lap due to the underperformance of the Renault power unit, which led to the decision to stop being a factory team and become a customer team, likely taking from Mercedes the power unit, gearbox and suspension.
Famin admitted it was a “big shock” the team’s decision to stop developing its own power units:
I think the big announcement was on Tuesday, last Tuesday, where we had to announce to the staff at Viry that there was a project to switch to a different power unit from 2026. And that was really a shock.
In terms of numbers, Famin confirmed that Renault’s engine is 10-15 kW (14-21 horses) short, resulting in them losing 0.2 seconds per lap, depending on the track.
Right now the current engine is about 15kW short. I think that’s what the FIA figures say. Renault really missed the point in 2014 when the current regulation was born with the two hybrid systems, Renault missed it completely. But now we are 10 to 15 kW behind. The power unit is, say, an average of two-tenths of the time per lap.
Source: www.autoblog.gr
