AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost admitted he is shocked by the unexpected reliability problems his team have faced in the first three races of the 2022 Formula 1 season. AlphaTauri are the junior team of Red Bull, who have also experienced more high-profile struggles.
The Italian team have their engine supplied by Honda power units – rebranded as Red Bull Power Trains as the Japanese manufacturer transition out of the sport – and have suffered a number of issues. In fact, they have seen three separate issues affecting their driver pairing of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.
During the opening race in Bahrain, Gasly’s AT03 burst into flames before Tsunoda suffered two engine failures in Saudi Arabia – including an ill-timed one that prevented the Japanese star from starting the race. Such results mean AlphaTauri are already playing catch up against their rivals in the battle for midfield position.
Haas and Alfa Romeo are powered by Ferrari, and therefore have impressed through the first three rounds. Those two teams have picked up 12 and 13 points respectively, while AlphaTauri have 10 – and Tost described the team’s reliability issues as ‘a big shock for us’.
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“We did the tests in Barcelona as well as in Bahrain without any problems – with thousands of kilometers – and now, the season starts, and in every race we have real big reliability issues,” Tost explained to reporters. “In Bahrain, the battery on Pierre’s car caught fire and in Saudi Arabia, we managed to lose two engines.
“This is really a big shock for us because, as a result, Yuki had to start [a race] from the back of the grid, and this is, of course, not how you want to start the season.”
Only senior team Red Bull have endured more retirements than AlphaTauri after three events this season. This is particularly unsettling given they are the only two teams running Red Bull Powertrains-made engines, but the specifics of their issues appear to be quite different.
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