Apr.9 (GMM) Fernando Alonso has played down reports he is already nearly halfway through his allocation of engines for the 2010 season.

FIA rules state that each driver may use just eight engines throughout the entire 19-race calendar, with ten-place grid penalties applying once the allocation is exhausted.

Spaniard Alonso had his first V8 changed due to overtaking after Bahrain qualifying, suffered no problems in Melbourne but then a sudden failure in Malaysia.

It is expected that Ferrari will fit the fourth new engine to the 28-year-old's F10 in China next weekend, leaving him with just four more fresh units in the bag for the remaining fifteen races.

Alonso is quoted as commenting on the engine situation by the Spanish press.

"One is broken, another (the one changed in Bahrain) I can use only in free practices, and the third one (Melbourne) I can use in more races.

"But I am not particularly worried, the team has told me that it (Malaysia) was an isolated failure, and we didn't have any problems in the pre-season," added Alonso.

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