ENGINE WARS

The whisper in Istanbul is that Renault will not fit a new engine to championship leader Fernando Alonso's car, even though he retired from the recent race in Hungary.

It is suggested that, while actually allowed to make the change, the French squad is gambling on the fact that the 2006 title duel against Ferrari's Michael Schumacher is more likely to conclude in Japan - the penultimate round - where Alonso will therefore be able to fit a fresh V8 engine.

Part of Renault's strategic thinking is also that the Enstone-based camp expect to finalise a new engine-spec in the days following Turkey, meaning that Alonso can then use the added horse power and revs on the long straights of Monza.

The risk, of course, is that the championship goes down to the wire and Alonso is forced to contest the Brazilian finale with a race-old unit.

Schumacher, on the other hand, is believed to have had a fresh 2.4 litre power plant fitted following his own Hungarian failure to finish, meaning that at Sao Paulo his engine would be new.

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

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The engine might decide how this plays out...