Adrian Newey has revealed Aston Martin will no longer have backup batteries for its Honda powertrains at the Australian Grand Prix and he feels “powerless” over the team’s current situation in 2026.
Aston Martin has endured a rocky start to the 2026 season with key issues traced to Honda’s powertrain, which produces excessive vibration when operating.
advertise
These vibrations caused battery failure, and Aston Martin has stationed some employees at Honda’s Sakura factory to help turn things around.
Similar issues led the team to scale back the Bahrain test run. On the final day, Fernando Alonso had a long run before being told to stop on track, while Lance Stroll only managed a few laps that afternoon.
Running was once again crucial in Melbourne’s FP1 race, with Stroll completing just three laps of the Albert Park circuit and Alonso never leaving the garage at all. Aston Martin team principal Newey said a new problem arose upon arrival in Australia.
advertise
“We encountered new problems with the internal communication of the battery and its management system,” he explains.
“But the bottom line, the more fundamental problem is the vibration issue that we’re still trying to solve.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
“We tried different solutions today on Lance’s car. When we talk about whether this helps, we are doing some analysis and then based on these we will define what we do for FP2.
advertise
“I think really it’s just trying to solve this problem. We have a battery shortage. We only have two batteries left, two in the car.
“If we lose one of them, then that’s obviously a big problem. So we have to be very careful about how we use the batteries.”
He added that Honda limited the car’s low-fuel mileage, which exacerbated Aston Martin’s meager lap times as the team worked to learn more about the car.
advertise
However, Newey is confident his team can work with Honda to find a solution for the rest of the year.
“I think this is where I felt a bit powerless because we obviously had a very serious PU problem and our lack of runs also meant that in the meantime we didn’t find the car,” Newey added.
“We have very limited information about the car itself because we rarely drive it, especially on low fuel.
advertise
Adrian Newey, Aston Martin Racing
Adrian Newey, Aston Martin Racing
“The fuel acts as a damper on the battery, so Honda has greatly limited how much low-fuel operation we can do. So it just becomes a matter of self-sufficiency, and of course, it uses a lot of energy – from a human perspective, not a kilowatt perspective – and we try to work with Honda and provide the best overall solution.
“We can turn around and say ‘that’s not our problem’, but that’s our problem because ultimately the car is a combination of chassis and PU.”
advertise
Newey said the goal was still to get both cars on track, but the battery challenges put the team in a “terrible position” for the rest of the weekend.
He added that there was no opportunity to source any further batteries from Honda, simply stating that there were “nothing” available to the team beyond the two remaining units.
“It’s a pretty scary place to be in, given our battery damage rate. Obviously, we’re hoping to be able to get through the weekend and start two cars and so on, but it’s hard to be specific about that at the moment.”
To read more Motorsport.com articles, please visit our website.
