Renault engine change just a precaution

The Renault F1 Team’s engine operations manager, Denis Chevrier, explains why the team changed Fernando Alonso’s engine yesterday morning before the first free practice session of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

"A few days ago, we decided to use the D5 spec engine in Fernando’s car, and also selected a similar unit for the T-car. In parallel, we continued our validation processes on the dyno and learned that the engine in T-car gave us a better performance-reliability compromise."

"Without going into details, let’s say that we are more confident in the components in the engine we are now running. They are identical, but from different batches."

"No, none. We simply want to give ourselves the best possible opportunity to finish the race in the best possible position."

"One hour, taking our time and our usual precautions."