Vettel has Ferrari engine advantage

UPDATE Although engine development is outlawed under the freeze, teams are allowed to replace parts to fix faults and improve reliability. It has been suggested that big-budget teams such as Ferrari and McLaren have been able to exploit this rule to make performance-enhancing tweaks, while Renault have fallen behind in the arms race.

“The problem is that us, Renault, have stuck to the letter of the current regulations on frozen engines, and we’ve been buggered," said Renault Team Principal Flavio Briatore earlier in the year.

“Others didn’t do that and are far ahead, while we suffer. It’s not fair."

[Editor's Note: Why doesn't the FIA do like NASCAR and spot check some engines on the dyno to make sure no one is gaining an unfair advantage? Idiots.]

08/24/08 (GMM) Toro Rosso's superior Ferrari engine is powering its car clear of senior team Red Bull.

That is the view of former double world champion Fernando Alonso, who drives for Renault.

UK-based French competitor Renault also supplies engines to Red Bull Racing, whose car is almost identical to the two Toro Rosso runners, who both qualified in the top ten at Valencia.

In contrast, the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard are very much amid the bottom half of the grid for Sunday's European grand prix.

Alonso, 27, praised STR runner Sebastian Vettel's P6 in qualifying as the result of "a great deal of skill".

"But we must bear in mind that he uses a Ferrari engine and that is an advantage," the Spaniard is quoted as saying by Diario AS.

"The Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars are identical, but one is fighting for the top positions and the other, with a Renault engine, could not get past the Q2," Alonso told the Spanish newspaper.