A lack of batteries is the latest disaster to hit Aston Martin, as Adrian Newey begins to show the strain.
Despite the hype, nobody really expected the Silverstone-based outfit to do a Brawn this season, but nor did we expect it to do a 2015 McLaren.
Speaking a today's press conference, despite his attempts to put a brave face on things, the strain of recent weeks was etched on the face of Adrian Newey, as he revealed the latest addition to what is becoming a catalogue of disaster.
"The critical point is the number of batteries," he admitted. "We came here with four batteries and we've had conditioning problems or communication problems with two of those batteries, which means we've, as we sit here today, only got two operational batteries.
"That, given our kind of rate of battery damage, is quite a scary place to be in," he sighed. "Obviously we're hopeful that we can get through the weekend and start two cars and so on and so forth, but it's very difficult to be concrete at the moment about that."
As he spoke, Lance Stroll was limited to just a handful of laps in the opening session, while Honda had urged teammate Fernando Alonso to sit it out.
In the second session, the situation was almost reversed, though at least the Spaniard was able to post a time, albeit 4.9s off the pace, Stroll six seconds.
"I think realistically it's just trying to manage the problem," said Newey. "We are short on batteries. We've only got two batteries left, the two that are in the car. So if we lose one of those, then it's obviously a big problem. So we've got to be very careful on how we use the batteries."
Asked about the possibility of spares being flowing in, the response was instant: "Unfortunately not, there aren't any," he admitted.
"I think it's one of those times where you kind of feel a bit powerless," he continued, "because we've clearly got a very significant PU problem and our lack of running also means at the same time we're not finding out about the car. So our information in the car itself is very limited because we've done so little running, and particularly running at low fuel. Because running at low fuel, fuel acts as a damper to the battery.
"So Honda have limited us very much to how much low fuel running we can do. It just becomes a self-feeding problem and of course it's using a lot of energy in the human sense as opposed to the kilowatt sense on our part to try to work with Honda and to to produce the best overall solution. Because we can turn around and say that it's not our problem, but it is our problem because ultimately the car is a combination of chassis and PU."
Asked about a worst-case scenario, he said: "It's very difficult to forecast at the moment. I think there's a very clear action on Honda to try to reduce the vibration which is emanating from the PU. They are working on that. It's not going to be a quick fix because this involves fundamental balancing and damping projects that they will need to conduct. I can't comment how quickly they can achieve that, but that has to be the main drive. Once they've got past that, then they can really start to concentrate on performance, but at the moment this vibration issue is sucking all energy in every area.
"I mean, as I said, emotionally," he added, "our mechanics were up until four o'clock this morning. So of course they're on their knees. The factory has been offering a lot of support, so it's something we really need to try to get on top of as quickly as possible."
When the subject of 2015 was brought up, he said: "Honda pulled out at the end of 2021. They then re-entered the sport, kind of, at the end of 2022, so over roughly a year, a year and a bit, out of competition. When they reformed, a lot of the original group had, it now transpires, disbanded and gone to work on solar panels or whatever, and so a lot of the group that reformed are actually fresh to Formula 1.
"They didn't bring the experience that they had had previously. Plus, when they came back in 2023, that was the first year of the budget cap introduction for engines, so all their rivals had been developing away through '21, '22 with continuity, their existing team, and free of budget cap. They re-entered with, let's say, only, I'm guessing, 30% of their original team, and now in a budget cap era, so they started very much on the back foot and unfortunately, they've struggled to catch back up.
"Obviously, our focus now is to work with Honda to get to the best possible place," he added. "Being realistic, this season is first of all, as I mentioned, getting on top of this vibration problem so we can run reliably, and from there to see how much performance they can add to the combustion engine in particular. Then at the same time, of course, Honda needs to start working on the '27 engine because it's clear that a very large step in combustion engine power is needed for '27, and that has to be their sole focus."
Asked if Aston Martin was aware of the lack of experience at Honda when it went into partnership with the Japanese giant, the design legend admitted: "We only really became aware of it in November of last year when Lawrence, Andy Cowell and myself went to Tokyo to discuss rumours starting to suggest that their original target power they wouldn't achieve for race one, and out of that came the fact that many of the original workforce had not returned when they restarted. So, no is the answer."
Asked how Alonso is handling things, Newey, who had made no secret of his desire to work with the two-time world champion, said: "Fernando obviously, in my opinion, he's one of the true greats. His ability, his talent, his all-round capability, he should have won, in truth, far more than the two championships he has to his name and however many race wins.
"He's still, I'm not sure how old he is, nobody quite knows, but he's in his forties. But he's still super quick, super talented, super sharp. Talking to him, he doesn't feel as if he's suffering in any way. His eyesight's still very good, his reactions, apparently he's very proud of the fact that he was the fastest starter last year on reaction time. So, he's an amazing person, and so we all, I suppose, were trying to contain our hopes because we knew this was going to be a difficult year, a build year.
"Certainly, on the chassis side, we on AMR's side, we started very late with a very compressed cycle. Not trying to make excuses, but it means we knew that certainly the first part of the season we were likely to be a bit behind, but hopefully with the potential, which I still believe we have on the chassis side, to catch back up, or would have done without the distraction that's now caused. So, for Fernando it's a hard mental place to be in at the moment."
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