Alpine reveals exhaust worry that exposes grid penalty risk

Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski has revealed an exhaust issue that threatens to hand the team grid penalties at the end of the season.

The French manufacturer has recovered from a steady start to the season to climb to fifth in the constructors' standings, helped largely Esteban Ocon's victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Teams are permitted to use eight exhaust systems per driver per season, meaning the early switch of spec could cause issues later in the year.

Explaining the issue to media including GPFans Global, Budkowski said: "We had an issue at the beginning of the year, reliability concerns, which meant that we limited the mileage of our exhausts to avoid failure during the race and a DNF.

"So we have introduced a few exhausts at the beginning of the year to contain that risk. We believe we have solved this issue now with a spec of exhaust we introduced during the season. What we're doing now is really managing the ball.

"We have a number of exhausts per car for the season, we just need to manage it and effectively, as you know you manage them between practice sessions, qualifying, race, by having a bit more resources in your pool, you can use them in the most efficient way, if you want, for the rest of the season.

"Touch wood, we don't expect to take penalties this season, but obviously, as we've used a few more than we would have liked to at the beginning of the season, then we are a bit exposed."

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

McLaren F1 champion urges team to not 'rock the boat' with Max Verstappen signing

• 1 hour ago

David Coulthard takes aim at 'sensitive' FIA in scathing attack on 2026 F1 regulations

• 2 hours ago

Max Verstappen admits his priorities have changed as F1 star makes heartbreaking admission

• Today 10:55

FIA announce update to F1 race start times for rest of 2026 season

• Today 09:42

Monaco is an F1 tax haven and the 'ultimate symbol of wealth' but one British star still refuses to live there

• Today 08:55

Lewis Hamilton strikes it rich with genius deal as $10bn valuation looms

• Today 08:12