‘Permanent damage’ - Silverstone-based Aston Martin face reliability crisis ahead of F1 season opener
Adrian Newey has revealed the Silverstone-based Aston Martin are highly unlikely to complete this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, marking a disastrous start to the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Team principal Newey has admitted drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have raised concerns over their health, as severe vibrations from their Honda power unit are making the AMR26 almost undriveable.
Aston Martin, who last year moved into their state-of-the-art £200 million factory just a stone’s throw from Silverstone Circuit, are continuing to suffer from severe reliability issues that plagued them during pre-season testing in Barcelona and Bahrain.
"That vibration is causing a few reliability problems, mirrors falling off, all that sort of thing, which we are having to address,” Newey explained to a press conference.
“But the much more significant problem is that the vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver's fingers.
“So, Fernando 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 is of the opinion that he can't do more than 15 laps before that threshold.”
Remarkably, Aston Martin completed only 128 laps during testing. Newcomers Cadillac, based in a tiny compound around the corner from Aston Martin at Silverstone, had the next least, managing more than double at 266 laps.
There have been a multitude of problems for Aston Martin, but the main one is undoubtedly the extent - and ramifications - of the vibrations. During testing, the shakes from the Honda power unit kept breaking the engine’s battery until the team ran out of spares.
Heading into this weekend, Aston Martin have made some progress. But there’s still no resolution to the highly uncomfortable feeling for the drivers.
"We have successfully reduced the vibration going into the battery," Newey added.
"But what is important to remember is the power unit is the source of the vibration, it's the amplifier. The chassis is, in that scenario, the receiver.
“A carbon chassis is a naturally stiff structure with very little damping, so the transmission of that vibration into the chassis, we haven't made any progress on.
"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 and improve the vibration.”