• Chinese Grand Prix

Still no concerns over engine reliability for Alonso

Engine problems brought an end to Fernando Alonso's first session © Sutton Images

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• News:
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• Race:
• Chinese Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso still has no concerns over the reliability of his Ferrari, despite experiencing his second engine failure of the season during free practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Alonso retired from the last race in Malaysia with a blown V8 and had reverted to using the engine he used in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix for the first session of this weekend. Ferrari had decided against using that engine in the qualifying and race in Bahrain because it was concerned about overheating. The decision proved to be wise as after just half of the first session in China the 2.4-litre unit let go in a puff of smoke.

"Clearly I'm not happy to have had an engine failure, but I'm not the slightest bit worried by it," he said. "The engine I had this morning was the one we had changed after qualifying in Bahrain and we knew that, sooner or later, it could break. It happened today, but it won't have much effect on our original engine management plan."

As at previous grand prix weekends, Alonso said the Friday practice times were misleading.

"We also did various tests of new aerodynamic components, such as the rear wing," he said. "It is pointless looking at today's time sheet, because each team follows its own work programme and that makes it impossible to compare the times. We stuck to our plan and we are pretty happy with what we achieved. I think we will be competitive at this track."

One of the aerodynamic tweaks Ferrari was testing on Alonso's car was a McLaren-style F-duct. Chief race engineer Chirs Dyer said although it had proved to be useful, the team would wait before running it under race conditions.

"We have a new aero package for this race, which needed validating on track and then we had some parts relating to a new concept for the rear wing, which we wanted to check out before moving on to develop it for forthcoming races," confirmed Dyer. "We are pleased with the data we gathered and with the way the new aerodynamic package is working."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.