• Ferrari news

Alonso has no engine worries

Fernando Alonso is relaxed ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Chinese Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso in not worrying about the reliability of his Ferrari's engine ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

Alonso suffered an engine failure in Malaysia and will use the same unit he raced with in Bahrain in this weekend's qualifying and race. Under the regulations, teams are not allowed to use more than eight engines in a season, but after three races Alonso has used three, one of which he has lost. However, Alonso insists he and Ferrari are still sticking to original plan they had at the start of the season.

"Naturally, we don't want to have any more problems of this type or with the gearbox," he said. "However, at the moment, our engine usage plan has not changed too much, apart from doing higher mileages on our 'Friday engines'. By the end of the season these ones will be a little bit older, but in terms of the engines that will do Saturday and race day, we are still on our original plan, so I am not worried."

On track Alonso is still wary of the pace of the Red Bulls and believes they will be strong all season, even after the front runners bring their first major upgrades to the cars at the Spanish Grand Prix.

"Let's see what everyone does here. I don't think the whole picture will change in Barcelona. We will see some major evolutions in Europe, but usually, all the teams manage to improve so it is a case of seeing who finds one tenth, who finds three tenths and so on. I don't think it will affect the overall picture in terms of the grid positions. I expect Red Bull to be very strong all season, but at the moment, we are ahead of them on points. I have no doubt that Ferrari will improve considerably during the season and we also have the ability to bring improvements to the track very quickly, as the team has often demonstrated in the past ten years."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.