Ferrari Not Worried for Running Out of Engines

A recent report showed that from all title contenders this year, Fernando Alonso has the worst engine situation in 2010, having used all of his 8 engines allocated for the ongoing campaign. While Red Bull's Mark Webber has two spare engines to use in the remaining 5 rounds of the season, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel each have one more unused powerplant, Alonso has just used his 8th during the Italian Grand Prix.

However, this doesn't seem to cause much distress within the Ferrari garage, as the remaining 5 circuits in the 2010 season don't have high-speed characteristics, hence engine power will not play a major role on Saturdays and Sundays.

“There is no reason to worry about engine problems, because our (other) engines can also be used more. And there are no other tracks where we are on the throttle for most of the lap,” Fernando Alonso was quoted as saying to O Estado de S.Paulo.

In case he will have to use an extra engine in one of those races, Alonso would be subject to a 10-place grid penalty for the event in question, as imposed by the FIA rulebook on engine used. However, not only Ferrari seem certain that won't happen, but even rivals McLaren, whose chief engineer Phil Prew believes the Scuderia are right not to worry too much about this particular issue.

“I think it will only affect their Friday running, in terms of running used engines on the Friday. Sadly I don't think that will give us any advantage over them,” said Prew during Wednesday's Vodafone teleconference, prior to the Singapore Grand Prix.

As far as the Singapore Grand Prix is concerned, Alonso is believed to use the powerplant from the Belgian Grand Prix, at Spa-Francorchamps, because the “it is a street circuit, where the engines are less important,” as noted by team principal Stefano Domenicali.