Alpine Formula 1 technical director Matt Harman acknowledged that Renault's approach last year in developing its power unit was ambitious but ultimately fell short of bridging the performance gap to its rivals due to a lack of development time.
Renault's Viry-Châtillon powertrain department took a calculated risk with last year's RE22 split-turbo engine design engine when it opted to prioritize performance gains over reliability before the unit’s specification was frozen by the FIA’s technical regulations.
That strategy was based on the assumption that any subsequent reliability issues could be addressed with the authorization of F1’s governing body.
However, as the 2023 season progressed, the RE23, essentially a carryover from the RE22, remained behind its Honda, Mercedes, and Ferrari rivals by around 20-30 bhp.
Renault initially attempted to gain approval for additional development hours that would have brought the engine in line with the competition for the remaining two years of the current regulations, with the FIA's support.
However, that approach was ultimately abandoned, and Renault has shifted its focus entirely to developing a new engine for F1's all-new 2026 regulations, accepting the performance deficit of its engine for the upcoming seasons.
Despite the deficit, Harman insisted that the chassis team is not hindered by the engine's performance limitations.
"I think we tried,” said the Briton, quoted by Motorsport.com. “I think it's important that we try these things.
“In the end, we have the technology and the capability to put the power unit where we'd like it to be, we just ran out of time on the RE22.
Alpine technical director Matt Harman.
"We were very courageous with that engine. Okay, it's a little bit behind where we'd like it to be. But it used to be a long way behind, and we made a big step, but we just didn't quite get there enough.
"And we just couldn't take any more risks than we did, it would have been nice to have it unlocked for a little while just to do that again.
"But in the end, I think it's also important to note that we've got another power unit to do at the moment. That's a big focus for the team. And that's where we see our future.
"So I think we took a decision in the end, actually, to just focus on the future. And we'll deal with this power unit for the next two years by trying to remove some of its parasitic losses and do everything that we can do inside the regulations."
Despite Alpine’s power unit limitations, Harman admitted that the Enstone squad could have done more on the chassis side to enhance the A523's performance at high-speed venues.
"You've all seen the numbers, we've stated the delta that we have," he said. "It's not just about the power unit deficit. If we look at Monza, and we look at how we performed there, it was not a good weekend for us.
"We didn't expect to be there. We knew the performance delta for the power unit before we went in, but we didn't expect to be in that position.
"And that tells you something that we just didn't do enough on the chassis side to complement the power unit and make the best of it. And that's something we actually learned for Las Vegas.
"We do have to make some compromises, of course, you have to re-optimise your car into a different zone. I think there's a lot you can do. And I don't think we did enough at some of the circuits where the power unit dominates."
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