Aston Martin sure getting a lot of press. Won't even be able to finish half the race.
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.
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>>Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish
Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking 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 and the car’s race time will be “very heavily restricted” until a solution is found, 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,” Newey said.
“Mirrors falling off the car, 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...<<