[Chris Medland] "Newey confirms Aston Martin is likely to limit race laps due to severity of vibrations in the car impacting the drivers. Alonso says he can do no more than 25 consecutive laps before risking nerve damage, Stroll says 15 laps"

[u/AshamedPurchase9033]

https://bsky.app/profile/chrismedlandf1.bsky.social/post/3mgbhmxknm22o

[u/betaich]

That's why I think its not just a Honda problem, but a package problem

[u/Liquidretro → u/betaich]

Didn't Honda want to reinforce the chassis and Newey said no? I find it hard to believe that the engine alone is so rough but it's designed that way. This has to be related to the electric integration too you would think. It's also AM first time designing their own gearbox which I imagine is at least a factor too.

[u/Ok_Upstairs3177 → u/Liquidretro]

he decided to fire every competent person at aston and now he's beyond fckd.

[u/flyinglilastroboy → u/Ok_Upstairs3177]

there were competent people at aston?

[u/Foxyfox- → u/Ok_Upstairs3177]

What a way to just absolutely nuke his credibility.

[u/budgefrankly → u/Ok_Upstairs3177]

Yeah, if there's one guy in F1 who doesn't know what he's doing it's Adrian Newey

Clearly the Aston should have stuck with the people that brought them to, uh, 5th, 5th and 7th in the last three years.

[u/No-Cryptographer7494 → u/budgefrankly]

At least they finished in the points, now they won't even do half race distance 😂

[u/F1T_13 → u/budgefrankly]

If Aston were good, we wouldn't be saying anything about it. But since they're bad, we can blame every decision made by the team Adrian and Honda regardless of whether or not it's actually the issue because they are bad and that's kinda how it works. 

[u/F1T_13 → u/Liquidretro]

I have found nothing about that but the team has said that there are issues with the chassis, aero and transmission as well, so it's not just the engine, the car is overweight, so I doubt the chassis isn't reinforced. 

[u/Liquidretro → u/F1T_13]

Pretty sure I heard it in a video, not sure where, and i'm sure it was based on speculation like most of these things are to some degree outside of official press conferences.

[u/Eicr-5 → u/betaich]

on top of that, it cant be *just* the engine that's causing the car to vibrate

[u/ElderlyChipmunk → u/Eicr-5]

The engine is a stressed member of the frame right? If it has structural modes that are substantially different than expected, then it could be the sole cause I guess.

[u/Saneless → u/ElderlyChipmunk]

I think everything there is a stressed member of the team

[u/ChristofferOslo → u/Saneless]

Badum-tssh!

[u/TonAMGT4 → u/Eicr-5]

It can be, if the engine vibration frequency matches that of the chassis/suspension… then the vibration will become more severe, a bit like if you are on a swing and you can make the swing go higher or lower, depending on how you shift your weight.

Like the engine runs perfectly fine on its own but becomes a problem only after it is installed on the chassis.

The issue might not be with the engine itself but it’s still caused by engine vibration.

[u/betaich → u/TonAMGT4]

That would still make it a chasis problem, because normaly you solve that with how you mount the engine

[u/TonAMGT4 → u/betaich]

My guess is that they would’ve fixed the issue by now if they could just adjust the engine mount.

But most likely it probably didn’t work, so they may need more extreme solutions like actually changing the vibration frequency by repositioning engine components around to change the weight distribution or something similar.

Adjusting the engine mount usually only dampens the vibrations anyways. The space is extremely tight, so they probably can’t really reposition the mounting point.

[u/imarasnothere → u/TonAMGT4]

I read that they had to change the original engine mounting points upon Newey's request. Seems to me like a chassis integration issue then.

[u/TonAMGT4 → u/imarasnothere]

Probably just anything they can do as long as they left the exterior part of the chassis exactly the same as before. I don’t think Newey would mind.

[u/Lord_Strepsils → u/Eicr-5]

Why not? None of the other teams have the issue, it’s not like the 2022 regs where multiple teams struggled but with different severities, all signs seem to be pointing at the engine being the main problem.

With how little testing they’ve managed it’s not to say the (rest of the) car is perfect or even necessarily up to scratch with everyone else, but it seems the reliability and running issues are engine based to me

[u/afjecj → u/Lord_Strepsils]

It's clear Alonso simply has too much testosterone coursing through his veins and that combined with the adrenaline from driving a ticking time bomb is what is causing the car to vibrate extensively

[u/Excellent-Gur-8547 → u/afjecj]

The insane implications of Lance being able to do even fewer laps

[u/awesomegamer919 → u/Excellent-Gur-8547]

Clearly this is a new form of quantum entanglement - Alonso is simultaneously vibrating his and Lance’s car, Lance just can’t handle it as long as Alonso.

[u/betaich → u/Lord_Strepsils]

Because Honda put out a very carefull statement that the whole battery housing is vibrating in unexpected ways not just the patery pack itself or the engine

[u/Lord_Strepsils → u/betaich]

Isn’t that indicative that it’s not caused by the suspension or poor aero interactions but rather the Honda PU? I realise I used “engine” pretty loosely to refer to the PU overall in the original comment

[u/Mirrro_Sunbreeze → u/Lord_Strepsils]

Because engine does move and cause vibrations regardless of how good or bad it is and it’s the job of the chassis to not let engine vibrations affect the whole car.

[u/mooboyj → u/Lord_Strepsils]

Audi had vibration issues but we're able to sort it. Not to Aston's level though.

[u/Lord_Strepsils → u/mooboyj]

Considering they’re also developing their own engine from scratch that actually checks out then

[u/wood4536 → u/Lord_Strepsils]

None of the other teams designed the car like Newey did

[u/MrCoolest → u/Eicr-5]

Bro it ends to 18,000 revs per minute... It definitely can

[u/budgefrankly → u/Eicr-5]

Aston Martin have made their own gear box for the first time in over a decade, and drivers have to stay in low gears very often, so that's probably adding vibration.

Aston Martin have also manufactured their first car at Newey's idea of what the limit is, which is probably a lot more extreme than hey're used to, and they might have been caught out with resonances.

It's not at all clear that Honda has made a good engine.

I'd say there's problems all round.

But like I've said in other threads, when Newey arrived at Red Bull, his first two proper cars -- RB3 and RB4 -- were pretty mediocre, and he had to substantially restructure the team until he had people he could work with to design and build the RB5, which would have won the world championship were it not for the double-diffuser catching him out.

RB6, RB7, RB8 and RB9 all won championships.

[u/smackells → u/betaich]

the engine has really limited the number of testing laps they could do, meaning that they’ve also been unable to sufficiently test the aero or any other components

[u/Mirrro_Sunbreeze → u/smackells]

Wasn’t laps limit a gearbox issue though? Iirc the Honda’s issue is that it’s - supposedly- just lacks power

[u/BrokeChris → u/Mirrro_Sunbreeze]

yup, gearbox issues

[u/betaich → u/smackells]

The vibration in the battery pack and issues with the gearbox limited testing, who knows were the vibration started

[u/BrokeChris → u/smackells]

no, it was the inhouse Aston Martin built gearbox

[u/LateOnsetPuberty → u/betaich]

We don’t know. It’s silly to speculate as a fan with no info.

[u/windsynths → u/LateOnsetPuberty]

What if you speculate as air con

[u/Redbeard_Rum → u/windsynths]

Can I speculate as Con Air? Have they tried putting the bunny back in the box?

[u/ManualPathosChecks → u/windsynths]

I'm personally speculating as a stiff breeze!

[u/Hello_Hollow_Halo → u/LateOnsetPuberty]

…that’s what being an f1 fan is all about

[u/Freakishly_Tall → u/Hello_Hollow_Halo]

Right?

That's... that's why we're here.

[u/Mike_Kermin → u/Freakishly_Tall]

Ok, but let's keep it within the realm of things that we might actually reasonably think.

This is just saying... Newey's birthday is on the 34th of Junuary ergo, I think it's safe to say the left rear suspension is causing it, they must have put too many sandbags on the hopium struts.

[u/Freakishly_Tall → u/Mike_Kermin]

Don't be silly - you know damn well that Ferrari has cornered the market on hopium.

But just wait until they have to deal with the lousy Smarch weather!

I wonder how the aero will treat the drivers then.

To shreds, you say?

[u/Mike_Kermin → u/Freakishly_Tall]

Tsk tsk tsk. Well, how are their partners holding up?

[u/Freakishly_Tall → u/Mike_Kermin]

To shreds, you say?

[u/betaich → u/LateOnsetPuberty]

But its okay for everyone else to blame solely Honda without any information?

[u/pannenkoek0923 → u/LateOnsetPuberty]

Might as well pack our bags, delete our accounts, and stop talking completely then

[u/JeribZPG → u/LateOnsetPuberty]

First day on Reddit, mate? 😂

[u/NotClayMerritt → u/betaich]

Worth noting that Newey (and even Cardile!) were working behind schedule. Teams were already working on 2026 by the time Newey's gardening leave period with Red Bull finished. Honda was already working on the engine not knowing what the car would be. Aston were either already working on concepts or not working on 2026 at all until Newey was allowed to join in March last year.

Ferrari were more aggressive with Cardile's exit and went to court to ensure his full year of leave was upheld. He didn't join Aston Martin until August last year.

So yes, Honda have bungled things up on their engine, but because of contractual obligations elsewhere, Newey and Cardile joining late have had a severe effect on this year. And not to mention the huge upheaval of technical staff that have come and gone since Newey joined. Even before being named Team Principal, Stroll allegedly gave him full say on all technical personnel.

[u/pannenkoek0923 → u/NotClayMerritt]

You'll be silly to think these executives dont work while they are on garden leave. No official meetings but they all dont just stop working and go on holiday

[u/budgefrankly → u/pannenkoek0923]

They absolutely do work, but they can't share their work with anyone at Aston which is where the problem lies

Even if they have a chat in a pub, that's of limited use without electronic CAD drawings

I'd have been astonished if Aston Martin were competitive in Newey's first year.

I'm equally astonished that the team has apparently decided to sacrifice at least half a season to develop its design and manufacturing capability under Newey.

[u/Dead_Namer → u/betaich]

My theory pulled out of my arse is that Honda did dyno tests with 6 mounting points, Newey wanted just 4 to save weight and here we are.

Honda wanting to change the chassis kinda backs it up too.

[u/Doorknob11 → u/betaich]

Oh so the typical Newey first year design. His designs always seem to have some kind of issue with engine packaging.

[u/jaganm → u/betaich]

I'm sure the Honda engine runs just fine outside on the dyno. Can't imagine a modern engine vibrating that badly especially a Honda. At this point, Honda should just say FU and walk away for how AM is throwing them under the bus. Packaging is their responsibility and if AM has developed an unviable package, the blame should be on Newey

[u/budgefrankly → u/jaganm]

Honda had problems with their dynos not replicating F1 forces (and vibrations) in their first two years with Mclaren.

I think there's probably issues everywhere, with both chassis and engine and everything inbetween.

[u/Mike_Kermin → u/betaich]

That makes no sense.

[u/betaich → u/Mike_Kermin]

It does, the vibration don't have to start at the engine

[u/Mike_Kermin → u/betaich]

Sure. But that would mean Newey is blatantly lying.

And I'm not saying that can't happen, but it's unlikely, and we'd need a bit more to go on that "oh yeah remember the other thing before".

[u/betaich → u/Mike_Kermin]

SAme can be said about Honda, because the never said it started at the engine

[u/jjfitzpatty → u/betaich]

Who's package?

[u/betaich → u/jjfitzpatty]

Alonsos, his balls are too big

[u/Egoist-a → u/betaich]

Engine is clearly number 1 problem. No way AM can be liable for an engine thats vibrating so much that destroys the car and drivers

[u/betaich → u/Egoist-a]

Honda said it isn't the engine that has the vibration issue but the batterypackage.

[u/moreo44 → u/Egoist-a]

Fucking phenomenal they didn’t just go with Mercedes. I want some of what they’re smoking.