Last Sunday Fernando Alonso crossed the finish line in third position at the Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Spaniard was in high spirits as he got out of his car, his teammates cheered him on, and social networks in Spain were buzzing. What many of them did not know is that he did it with an injured car, not seriously, but without the speed and efficiency shown at the beginning of the race.
In the final stages of the race, one of the six cylinders of his Mercedes engine began to show signs of burnout. It was not a major malfunction, but it did detract from the power output. During a Grand Prix, a Formula 1 engine makes about 9.25 million explosions of the air-fuel mixture; one and a half million for each piston. In one of them, Alonso's powerful engine showed a sign of weakness compared to what was expected. If it had been a serious fault from the pits, he would have been asked to stop his car, as they did with his teammate Lance Stroll, but it was not the case.
The two-time champion would certainly notice a lack of power at some point, which was compensated for with several corrections to the on-board settings of the powertrain. With a variation in the electronics that manages the ignition, and adjusting the power delivery of the Energy Recovery System, he was able to alleviate the situation without affecting too much the overall behavior of the car. After two races, the green racer is de facto the best Mercedes driver, that is, equipped with its engines, and the only one able to follow in the wake of the unstoppable Red Bull. Both in the pre-season tests and in the two races he has been the fastest of all the others, and the only non-Red Bull participant to have been on the hardwood so far this season.
Live fears It wasn't all plain sailing in Jeddah for Aston Martin. It was the team's other driver who caused the safety car to be brought out a third of the way through the race. Lance Stroll's AMR23 was battling with Carlos Sainz in advanced positions, when suddenly his mechanics started to lose speed. Many thought it was a brake failure because the sound of the engine and the visible data did not suggest otherwise. Stroll was ordered by radio to stop and move away from the track as required by the regulations. Lance obeyed without further explanation. Later, Mike Krack, team principal, stated that he had suffered a problem related to the energy recovery system. This was true, but somewhat inaccurate and at the time of going to press was under internal investigation. What happened may have been a breakdown, a breakage, or most likely: both. The former would have been a mechanical failure due to weakness or overstressing of the exhaust manifold. This part has been in use since last year -yes, it is the same one used in the last races of 2022-, and has accumulated a considerable period of use, around 7,000 km. Metal fatigue is being considered, not forgetting that the combustion gases come out in that area at temperatures that reach 2,600 degrees Celsius. The latter could be something exogenously provoked, which could be added to the above. At some point in his fight with Sainz, Lance went over a piano and hit the belly of his car with excessive force.
The kerbs are the limits marked with signs of various colors (usually red and white or blue and white) that indicate the limits of how far the cars can go in their path. This sort of border between legal and illegal adds a cascade of raised bumps in the form of a 'lying guard' that invites drivers to return to the inside of the track. The more the piano is abused, the more it rattles the car, to the point that if it is attacked too hard, ailerons and suspension mechanisms can be damaged.
When his car arrived in the pits, his mechanics noticed that the exhaust pipe was not properly positioned, something anomalous. When they opened up the entire rear area, they discovered that (most probably) the kinetic energy of the impact had been transmitted vertically, had damaged the floor and part of the energy recovery system accumulator. Such a crash leaves traces in the multiple sensors surrounding the area. It is logical that from the pits, aware of the crash, he was asked to stop his car and especially the engine. A major damage to the propellant not only entails costs, but also penalties payable in grid positions in case of replacing important parts.