Australian Grand Prix: Aston Martin have a genius trick to overcome F1 car's bad vibrations

Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso — Photo: © IMAGO

Aston Martin

Aston Martin have a genius trick to overcome F1 car's bad vibrations

You will never guess how they might solve the big problem in Melbourne

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 6 March 2026 16:57

A bizarre trick could help F1 stars Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll contend with the vibrations from their Aston Martin at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The Silverstone-based outfit were clearly behind the pace of their rivals during Bahrain testing, and when a battery issue forced them to abandon Sakhir early, their problems went from bad to worse.

With the F1 circus arriving at Albert Park, team principal Adrian Newey addressed the media for the first time and delved into Aston Martin's issues with the Honda engine.

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He said: "That vibration into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems: mirrors falling off, tail lights falling off, all 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.

"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 improve the vibration at source."

Hubba Bubba! Have they found a solution?

Italian F1 insider Giuliano Duchessa, recently shared his thoughts on Aston Martin to social media and described the scenario as 'tragicomic'.

He also unveiled a potential solution that Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could utilise to resist the vibrations - chewing gum and a mouth guard.

"The problems AM has to deal with are plain for all to see and are somewhat tragicomic," he wrote.

"I heard that during testing, the drivers chewed three or four pieces of gum at the same time as mouth guards to withstand the vibrations from the Honda ICE resonating with the chassis."

Stroll compared the vibrations from the AMR26 to 'electrocuting yourself', which suggests a solution might not be as simple as chewing gum.

Honda chief Koji Watanabe also confirmed that any potential solution to the ongoing issue will not materialise until they take to the track on Friday, and even then, the fix only stops the vibrations reaching the battery in the power unit.

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F1 Aston Martin Fernando Alonso Australian Grand Prix Lance Stroll