Aston Martin says its F1 car risks giving drivers 'nerve damage'

Aston Martin says its F1 car risks giving drivers 'nerve damage' Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage By STEWART BELL Associated Press March 5, 2026, 3:20 AM MELBOURNE, Australia -- Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1's season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage. Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team's Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance, Newey added. Aston Martin had a poor preseason , often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams. “That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” said Newey. “Mirrors falling off the air, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But, the much more significant problem with that is that that 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 into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold. “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 to improve the vibration at source.” Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations. He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth-best behind the expected top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential t...