Jenson Button flags Aston Martin problem amid troubled start at Australian GP

Jenson Button says Aston Martin’s minimal Friday running in Melbourne has left the team learning nothing as reliability fears continue

2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button has raised concerns about Aston Martin's lack of running in the first day of practice ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

Button, who became an ambassador for the Silverstone outfit ahead of the 2026 season, noted that the team will not have learned anything from the first practice session.

Fernando Alonso sat out the hour-long session due to a power unit issue, and his team-mate Lance Stroll only managed three laps before encountering a similar issue.

"When you arrive here and only do three laps in first practice, you're not learning anything and can't do any more reliability work," the Briton told Sky Sports F1. "It's a tough situation for them to be in, but everyone has to be patient with these new regulations.

"It will take time. Every kilometre matters and they haven't done enough of them."

Aston Martin has had a difficult start to the year. With expectations high for the first Aston Martin F1 car designed under Adrian Newey and the start of its power unit partnership with Honda, the team has fallen short. It heads into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix uncertain whether it will be able to finish the race.

Jenson Button. Aston Martin Team Ambassador

Photo by: Aston Martin

"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," Newey told the media in Melbourne.

“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."