Four-time champion turned Renault ambassador Alain Prost is certain engines will play a role in the 2014 Formula 1 season as reliability will be a concern for all three manufacturers.
The new 1.6 litre turbo-charged V6 engines are completely knew and feature two energy-recovery systems which make them very complex pieces of technology.
Such is the fear that the current limit of just five units for what could potentially be a 22-race season is already causing some headaches and is likely to be increased to six.
Prost is certain engines will fail, but says fans must learn to go with it until the reliability improves.
“I can tell you, for sure we are going to have some reliability problems, in the beginning especially,” he told Autosport.
“We all need to accept that sometimes it is going to be a problem the public will understand it is a new technology and it is not reliable, but slowly they will see that you get the performance, the reliability, the fuel consumption.”
Speaking about Renault’s efforts, the Frenchman confirmed everything was going to plan.
“Everything is on target, everything is OK,” he added. “Everybody is very cautious about what they do and what they say because it is a completely new technology
“Performance, more or less, we are going to know where we are so it is going to make a progression slowly.”
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