It is understood that Alpine has withdrawn a series of proposed upgrades to its current engine as these did not gain full support from rival teams, which led to an FIA assessment of the situation being closed.
In July, Autosport first reported that the topic of engine equalisation had been put before the F1 Commission after an FIA analysis of the performance levels of the currently frozen specification of power units indicated that Alpine’s Renault engine is approximately 15-25Kw (20-33hp) down on its closely matched rivals – Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda.
The FIA called this a “notable performance gap” in a statement released after the F1 Commission met at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The governing body went on to state that the F1 Commission had “discussed ways to remedy this discrepancy” and that “the power unit manufacturers represented at the Commission agreed to give a mandate to the Power Unit Advisory Committee to consider this topic and bring proposals back to the Commission”.
This move followed the FIA checking engine performance levels over the first half of the 2023 season, as had been agreed at the start of the current power unit rules cycle from in 2022 that this year would mark a point where engines could possibly be altered.
This would be done to avoid a major performance difference “being locked in for an extended period”, per the FIA statement.
But for any changes to go ahead for any engine manufacturer, they required what has been framed as ‘good faith’ agreement apparently arranged between all the teams and engine builders in back in 2021 when the engine freeze was first agreed.
Source: Autosport