RACING: Aston Martin to limit laps in Australia with drivers at risk of nerve damage

MELBOURNE – Aston Martin will limit their laps at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to prevent their drivers from suffering nerve damage caused by vibrations coming through the steering wheel, team principal Adrian Newey said Thursday.

Newey explained that vibrations from the Honda-supplied power unit were transferring to the chassis and putting a strain on Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll’s fingers.

"That vibration into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems: mirrors falling off, tail lights falling off, all that sort of thing, which we are having to address,” Newey told reporters at Albert Park.

"But the much more significant problem is that the vibration is transmitted directly into the driver’s fingers. Fernando feels he can’t do more than 25 consecutive laps without risking permanent nerve damage. Lance believes he can’t exceed 15 laps before reaching that threshold. We will have to heavily limit the number of laps during the race until we resolve the source of the vibration."

Vibration Woes Continue

Aston Martin has faced reliability issues that severely limited their laps during winter testing. Alonso, whose second stint at McLaren from 2015-2019 was also affected by Honda power unit problems, said the vibrations were noticeable throughout his body.

"With this frequency of vibrations, you feel numb in your hands or feet after 20 or 25 minutes," Alonso said. "So, yeah, it has been a challenge."

Stroll said the vibrations made the whole car feel like it was falling apart but remained philosophical.

"Some seasons a Formula 1 car is a dream to drive, other seasons it’s a nightmare," Stroll said. "It’s life, you know?"

Newey added that the team had made some progress in reducing the vibrations affecting the battery pack, which had impacted car performance during testing.

"The battery is the focus because it’s the critical item for reliability," he said. "However, the transmission of vibration into the chassis remains unresolved."

Honda HRC president Koji Watanabe confirmed the company was working on the power unit problems but gave no timeline for a full fix.

"I want to hurry up, but at this moment, it’s quite difficult to say when and how," Watanabe told reporters.

Rival drivers poked fun at Aston Martin’s struggles. Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas jokingly included Alonso and Stroll when asked for his championship predictions.

"If I have to guess, I’d say Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso," Bottas said. "And… George Russell. I think Mercedes were sandbagging, so they’ll beat Aston at the very end in Abu Dhabi."

-Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Reuters