Yuki Tsunoda has expressed his surprise at the number of power unit-related issues his AlphaTauri team have suffered so far in 2022. The Japanese driver had a weekend to forget at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with engine problems compromising his qualifying session and then preventing him from starting the race. Worryingly for Tsunoda, that was already his second power unit of the season, after having suffered an issue with his first unit during Friday practice. Tsunoda's teammate, Pierre Gasly, also had a stoppage on track during FP3 in Jeddah, and similarly had been given his second power unit of the campaign following a catastrophic fire during the Bahrain Grand Prix.
"Last year, we didn't have any reliability issues like this"
"I'm so surprised," Tsunoda told media including RacingNews365.com of his concerns over the newly-badged Red Bull Powertrains power units. "Last year, we didn't have any reliability issues like this. Especially the engine, we were 100 per cent trusting. "Even if we had [some issues last year], it was only one or two races. Now, it's two races in a row." The multiple power unit issues at AlphaTauri also prompted Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner to voice his concerns over the reliability of the ex-Honda engines, which are identical to those in the Red Bull RB18. After two rounds of the 2022 F1 season, AlphaTauri sit sixth in the Constructors' standings with eight points.
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