Low speed problems for the Renault alternator

From Spa-Francorchamps, Renault Sport F1 provides a new version of its alternator to its partners in order to solve the problems encountered by Romain Grosjean and Sebastien Hag during the European Grand Prix last June. Despite everything, the system once again encountered reliability problems, forcing the two-time reigning world champion to retire.

« Our analyzes after Valencia revealed potential overheating problems at low revs, White explains. We had developed a new version of our alternator which had been validated on the test bench. Red Bull and Lotus had tested it at Spa and no problems were encountered. With this new specification, we can deliver approximately 30% more energy to solve low-speed problems. »

The origin of the problem, however, still remains unknown for Renault Sport F1, which will try to find technical solutions to improve the reliability of its system before the next Grand Prix, which will take place in Singapore from September 21 to 23. “ Each time, it was the latest specification, adds White. After the incidents that occurred during the third free practice session and in qualifying, we changed the alternators of Vettel's Red Bull and d'Ambrosio's Lotus. The incident in the race for Vettel is therefore even earlier. Other parts have covered many more kilometers. It is therefore a priority for us to discover the discrepancies between these pieces. This situation is therefore not acceptable, we must resolve it for Singapore. »