Aston Martin face serious issues as drivers ‘risk permanent nerve damage’ at Australian Grand Prix

Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey has admitted his drivers are at risk of permanent nerve damage driving their new car.

The new Formula 1 season will get under way with the Australian Grand Prix and new regulations have sparked waves of innovation from the 12 teams.

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However, Aston Martin, now helmed by the iconic designer are experiencing dramatic issues which look set to stop them even finishing the opening race.

Newey revealed that vibrations from their Honda engine are risking health issues for their drivers within 25 laps of running.

Issue picked up in pre-season testing

The team experienced major issues with their Honda power unit during last month’s pre-season testing events in Bahrain.

The unit was the first supplied to them as part of a new partnership with the Japanese manufacturer.

On the eve of the new Formula 1 season, Newey opened up on the issues currently hampering Aston Martin.

“That vibration into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” Newey said.

“Mirrors falling off, tail lights falling off – all that sort of thing, which we are having to address.

“But the much more significant problem is that the vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.

“So Fernando [Alonso] is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage to his hands.

“Lance [Stroll] is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.”

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Aston Martin have worked tirelessly to find a way to halt the vibrations from the engine leading to a failure in the batteries in the engine’s hybrid system.

The changes have been applied in time for the Australian Grand Prix.

Honda F1 boss Koji Watanabe said they won’t know the impact of the measures until the car goes on track on Friday.

Watanabe also confirmed that Honda are unable to run the power unit at full capacity due to the vibration issue.

“During the Bahrain pre-season test, we experienced unexpected vibration, which caused damage to battery-related components of the power unit.

“As a result, we were unable to complete the mileage we had originally targeted.

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“The engineers from Honda and Aston Martin are working closely as one team to develop and evaluate the multiple countermeasures to the issue.

“Based on extensive testing, we will introduce countermeasures, what we believe to be the most effective solution at this stage, starting this week.

“However, its effectiveness cannot yet be fully guaranteed under the real track condition. So certain conditions will be applied to power unit operation this week.

“Honda and Aston Martin will continue working closely together as one team, and further measures are already under consideration.

“So, we are not able to share the technical details, so we ask for your patience as we continue working towards unlocking our full performance potential.”

Transparency over the car’s capabilities

Meanwhile, Newey added: “There’s no point in not being open and honest in this meeting on our expectations.

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“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration and improve the vibration at source.”

Alonso said the vibrations made his hands and feet feel numb after completing a number of laps.

The Spaniard said: “If we were fighting for the win, we can do three hours in the car, let’s be clear. But definitely it is something that is unusual. It shouldn’t be there.

“We don’t know the consequences either if we keep driving like that for months. So a solution has to be implemented.”