Ferrari not worried about Alonso’s engine usage

Fernando Alonso insists he is not worried about his engine situation with five races still to run in 2010.

Ferrari is pushing ahead with the Spaniard’s championship chances, but at Monza two weeks ago he began using his eighth V8 unit for the season.

FIA rules state that if a driver uses a ninth engine during the season, he must move ten places down the qualifying grid — a situation that would seriously affect Alonso’s aim to recover his 21 point deficit to Mark Webber.

But he said: “There is no reason to worry about engine problems, because our (other) engines can also be used more.

“And there are no other tracks where we are on the throttle for most of the lap,” Alonso is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo.

It is believed that, this weekend in Singapore, Alonso will use the engine he raced recently at Spa-Francorchamps.

“It is a street circuit, where the engines are less important,” noted team boss Stefano Domenicali.

McLaren’s chief engineer Phil Prew believes Ferrari when the Italian team says it is not overly worried about engine usage.

“I think it will only affect their Friday running, in terms of running used engines on the Friday,” he told reporters during Wednesday’s Vodafone teleconference.

“Sadly I don’t think that will give us any advantage over them,” added Prew.

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