Since the introduction of hybrid units way back in 2014, the Renault Power Unit has never shone like its competitors, confirming itself as a weak point for the French team both from the point of view of raw power and reliability. Despite the freeze in force from 2022, behind the scenes engineers are still working on the current units and Bruno Famin has confirmed that ahead of the new season Renault is working on updated software which should help with energy management, one of the weak points of E-Tech 2023.
Taking a step back, this is also one of the reasons that in 2018 led to the separation of Red Bull from the transalpine manufacturer in favor of Honda Power Units, a move which later proved to be central in the conquest of the world titles obtained in the last three seasons.
Even McLaren, which had seen Renault as an anchor to cling to at the end of 2017 after the turbulent divorce from the Japanese manufacturer, then chose to abandon the French engine manufacturer to rely once again on Mercedes, with which, among other things, it recently signed the renewal until 2030. With Honda's farewell, the manufacturers have decided to freeze the Power Units from 2022 onwards, in order to give Red Bull and AlphaTauri the opportunity to keep the same unit without major changes.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Esteban Ocon, Alpine A523
However, for Renault it was a watershed moment, because it found itself facing a situation of clear inferiority compared to its rivals, but with the aim of having to make concrete steps forward in a short time . In view of 2022, the engineers from Viry-Châtillon are making tangible improvements, which have in fact helped the French unit to get closer to Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda, although a gap still remains which represents a deficit in the run-up towards the most nobles of the ranking.
“Until 2021 we were quite distant and I'm quite sure of this because in 2021 I was still at the FIA and I had everyone's data. In 2022 we were still a little behind, but closer [rispetto al 2021]. For 2022 we worked on multiple fronts, with a completely new car also to better integrate the Power Unit into the car. People say that there is not a good collaboration between Enston and Viry-Châtillon, sometimes it is true, other times not, sometimes it works very well, the Power Unit in this case was designed to have better integration with the car, in order to give greater space for aerodynamic development”, said Bruno Famin, a figure who, since his arrival last year, has climbed the internal hierarchies of Alpine.
Famin had been part of the Federation until 2021, at least until the French company offered him the possibility of being appointed executive director responsible for the development of the PU, especially with a view to the future towards 2026. However, following the managerial reshuffle which took place in mid-2023, the French engineer was entrusted with the role of Team Principal ad iterim, which he still holds today. So, although he was not present when the engineers conceived the project for the 2022 Power Unit, he followed its progress.
![Often in 2022 the Alpine team had to end the race early due to reliability problems](https://cdn-9.motorsport.com/images/mgl/68yNvBl0/s1000/marshals-remove-the-car-of-fer-1.jpg)
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Often in 2022 the Alpine team had to end the race early due to reliability problems
Over the course of the past season the Alpine often suffered from serious reliability problems, largely due to malfunctions of the water pump, a component later modified in view of 2023: “Even if it is not the best unit on the grid , we continued to push on performance, even with the risk of having performance problems, as unfortunately happened last year. We had some problems with some components, which are not really related to the engine itself, but it was the water pump which was not in the right place and was not large enough.”
“This caused problems, so we had to retreat many times due to fluid leaks and water pressure. But we fixed it by modifying and moving the water pump. This year we had no problems during the races,” added Famin. In fact, except for rare cases, such as Azerbaijan, Alpine has not encountered any particular problems on the Power Unit side this year. There have been occasions in which there have been withdrawals or stops on the track, but more due to accessory components coming from other companies, such as in the Canadian free practice, or due to oil leaks and problems related to the gearbox.
Behind the scenes the engineers are still active on the current units, especially at the software level, on which interventions can be made. It is precisely on this issue that Renault is working to improve the energy recovery phase, in which there are still signs of difficulty compared to its more direct rivals, who manage to be more efficient.
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“Obviously we continue to improve the Power Unit. It's true that, generally speaking, we can't change the hardware [la parte fisica], but once a year we can change the software. One piece of software can be approved per year and we are working hard to approve new software for the 2024 season.”
“The software will help us improve energy management. Clearly a large part of the performance of these complex units comes directly from the ICE [il motore termico], but a lot also depends on the energy you are able to recover and release via the MGU-K. In this aspect we have clear deficiencies, we recover less energy than our opponents. We are working on it, we will not be able to close the gap, but we will still work on energy management to get closer,” added Famin.
However, beyond the software work, a large part of the resources have already been invested in the future 2026 Power Units, on which the manufacturers have already started working since mid-2022 when the regulations were officially communicated: “”We have already decided to allocate all our resources on Power Units 2026. We have known the rules of the new units since July 2022, when they were officially published. All the manufacturers have been working on the new Power Units since then, allocating more resources gradually. We are already dedicating our resources to the next generation.”
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