After Alpine voiced concerns that their engine wasn’t level with their rivals, engine equalisation was added to the F1 Commission agenda for the Belgian GP.
Alpine revealed to the FIA that their Renault engine was significantly down on its rivals. This prompted the FIA to analyse the power unit performance of all engines and consequently its been marked as an important topic of discussion.
Autosport revealed that Alpine’s Renault engine was between 20-33hp slower than their competitors. However, due to the engine freeze they can’t make any significant changes to close the gap…
Engine Freeze
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The current engine regulations only allow for engine changes on the grounds of reliability, safety, cost saving and a range of minimal incidental changes.
But with the data showing the clear disadvantage Alpine have, perhaps we will see these regulations change.
Domination isn’t seen as “ideal” for the sport, but it happens, it’s the very nature of the sport.
But if engine equalisation comes in, we may wave goodbye to such dominating performances.
Despite Red Bull’s incredible dominance this season. Red Bull boss, Christian Horner is pro engine equalisation, claiming that it’s the “sensible” thing to do if there are major performance gaps between the teams.
Whilst ordinarily teams wouldn’t want to be handing performance gains to their rivals, this situation is an entirely different matter. If the Renault engine is so far adrift and they can’t make changes to level the playing field due to the engine freeze, then shouldn’t something be done?
Nothing has been decided yet, but what are your thoughts?
Are you pro or con engine equalisation?