Honda sees Aston Martin vibration improvement after limited FP2 running

Honda has reported fewer battery vibrations on Aston Martin’s power unit, with its first countermeasures taking effect in free practice at the Australian Grand Prix.

Team principal Adrian Newey was candid in admitting Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll would struggle to go the distance at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, both as a result of the high vibration levels running through the car, and a shortage of batteries.

Honda confirms Aston Martin battery vibration improvement after FP2

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While not a full session’s complement of laps, Alonso and Stroll notched 31 tours of Albert Park between them in FP2. This gave Honda enough data to see effects of what it has already worked on to reduce the vibrations running through the car.

As these are ultimately felt through the drivers’ fingertips, Alonso reported a ‘numb’ feeling after driving the car for long enough in testing, which Newey placed as a 25-lap limit before risking lasting nerve damage.

Paddock sources have played down the possibility that Aston Martin’s drivers risk potential nerve damage from extended stints behind the wheel, with the suggestion being that such claims are a means of keeping pressure up on Honda to improve its driveability and reliability.

Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s chief engineer and trackside general manager, reported that the first measures the manufacturer has implemented worked in FP2, resulting in fewer vibrations.

While not yet solved, it marks a step towards finding a solution.

“FP2 today was valuable for us, as we were able to see the effects of our countermeasures,” Orihara said.

“With Lance and Fernando completing a combined 31 laps, we were able to gather the necessary data to determine that the items we implemented first on the dyno at HRC Sakura are working at the track.

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“As a result, there are less battery vibrations occurring according to our analysis gathered during the session.

“Today did start off with us identifying a power unit issue on Fernando’s car. We tried to rectify this before the start of FP1, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to complete the work on time.

“Therefore, the decision was made that car #14 would sit out of the session whilst the work on the PU continued. We also had an issue with Lance’s PU, and we decided to box and investigate, allowing us to make the changes for FP2.”

Alonso would not be drawn on the lack of batteries available to him this weekend, with he and Stroll lapping towards the bottom of the timings in FP2 as Aston Martin gathered valuable data.

The rest of the weekend remains an unknown for the Silverstone-based team, but the two-time World Champion was unable to gather too much from his day at Albert Park.

“Yeah, not much learning, to be honest,” Alonso said.

“Unfortunately, the Honda issue in FP1 and some Honda issues as well in FP2, a little bit limited our number of laps today.

“Not needed again, because we need to recover a little bit in terms of understanding the car as well and the window of where this car operates.

“Obviously, we brought a completely new package into this race, and we need to understand where to run that package in terms of setup, and we didn’t manage too many laps today.

“Hopefully a cleaner FP3 tomorrow.”

The teams will be back in action for FP3 on Saturday, before qualifying to set the first grid of the 2026 season.

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