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Adrian Newey has astonishingly revealed that Fernando Alonso believes he can only do 25 consecutive laps in this year’s Aston Martin car before getting “permanent nerve damage in his hands.”
As for the teammate of 44-year-old Alonso, Lance Stroll says he cannot complete more than 15 laps before the same issue could arise, due to the vibrations on the AMR26 car. Later in the day, Stroll, 27, described the sensation as like “electrocuting yourself in a chair.”
The shock revelation was divulged in a media session on Thursday morning in Melbourne, with team principal Newey speaking alongside Honda executive Koji Watanabe. Aston endured a torrid pre-season testing period and were only able to complete a handful of laps due to issues with their new power unit provider.
Newey also admitted that the team are likely to be unable to complete the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, detailing: “We are going to be heavily restricted by how many laps we can do in the race, due to the vibrations [of the car].”
Newey, the F1 design guru who joined from Red Bull last year, did insist that he believes the chassis side of the car is the fifth-best on the grid, adding that the team are targeting Q3 in qualifying on Saturday — even if they cannot finish Sunday’s 58-lap race.
In a 15-minute media session with regular microphone issues throughout, Newey said: “The 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.
“But the much more significant problem is that the vibration is transmitted ultimately into the drivers’ fingers. So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he risks permanent nerve damage to his hands.
“Lance is of the opinion that you can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold. It’s something that, unfortunately, Koji and I haven’t had a chance to discuss properly prior to this [media] meeting.
“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.”
Alonso, however, played down the concerns. While acknowledging the issues, the two-time world champion believes any “adrenaline can overcome the pain” he feels in his hands.
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Adrian Newey (right) spoke to the media in Melbourne on Thursday (Kieran Jackson/The Independent)
“The vibrations coming from the engine are hurting a little bit, the components on the car, and you know, the drivers,” he said. “We feel them. We feel our body. With this frequency of the vibrations, you feel a little numb after 20 or 25 minutes, they work on your hands or your feet or whatever.
“It has been a challenge. But every day, they [Honda] try to find solutions. And I think since Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now. I’m curious to see what we can improve tomorrow.
“It’s not painful, not difficult to control the car. I mean, the adrenaline is just way higher than any pain. You know, if we were fighting for wins, we can do three hours in the car. I think that overcomes anything. When you are in the car, you don’t have a limitation that you will stop you feeling the car or what you are doing, but it is something that is unusual.
“It shouldn’t be there and yet we don’t know the consequences either, if you keep driving like that for four months. So you know, a solution has to be implemented.”
Stroll added: “It’s a very uncomfortable vibration and it’s bad for the engine – but also the human inside the car.”
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Aston have endured a torrid pre-season period with engine issues (Getty Images)
Reports before this week’s season-opener indicated that Aston could withdraw their cars in the opening laps of Sunday’s event. It remains to be seen whether Aston will race in 25-lap or 15-lap stints to finish the grand prix.
Aston only switched to Honda engines this season, after ending their partnership with Mercedes, who are believed to hold the strongest engine at the start of the new season.
Honda has previously worked with Red Bull, powering Max Verstappen’s period of dominance. Despite the early-season difficulties, Newey remained optimistic about the season ahead, insisting they can be at the front “at some point this season.”
“I believe that the car has huge, tremendous development potential,” he said.
“It will take, of course, a few races for us to fully realise that potential. We’ve got quite an aggressive development plan underway. So I think it’s fair to say that here in Melbourne, we are a bit behind the leaders.
“I would say we’re maybe the fifth-best team, so potential Q3 qualifiers on the chassis side. It’s obviously not where we want to be, but with the potential to be up front at some point in the season.
“I believe in our partners and Honda’s ability to bring that power up. They have a proven track record, and we have total faith.”