Alpine suffers engine failure as Fernando Alonso ends early morning session in Barcelona

The third and final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona got off to a horrific start for Alpine as Fernando Alonso’s A522 suffered a dramatic engine blowout on the track. It is obvious that the French team had a lot of plans for today before traveling to Bahrain for the second pre-season test.

However, just 15 minutes into the morning session, Alonso suffered what may be the first terminal PSU issue of the year. Smoke billowed from the rear of the Alpine as the Spaniard had to park his car against his will on the gravel trap.

Consequently, the marshals temporarily halted the session while the marshals recovered the stranded Alpine off the track before waving green flags on the session again.

What happened to Fernando Alonso’s A522?

The good news is that Alonso is safe, but the bad news is that he may not be able to take part in the morning session anymore. The problem looks quite serious, and it’s likely that the Alpine mechanics will have a long day ahead of them, trying to get the double world champion’s car ready before the lunch break.

According to Sports car, the power unit issue could have something to do with Renault’s major changes to their engine setup this year. Unlike in the past, Renault has separated the turbo from the supercharger, which was originally dreamed up by 2021 constructor champions Mercedes and later emulated by Honda.

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Afternoon plans to disrupt Alpine

Alpine would desperately want a dry track after lunch to make up for lost time in the morning. However, F1 has different plans, as the water trucks are set up to make the track wet so drivers can run on wet and intermediate tyres.

Alpine’s Barcelona test potentially ended prematurely. Moreover, it arrived at the worst possible time, with no more test days scheduled until the first week of March. Therefore, Alpine may have to play the waiting game before taking the Renault-powered challenger to the track in Bahrain.

But what if engine problems continue to haunt them on the second test as well? Well, let’s see how Alpine manages to deal with this sticky situation.