Alonso forced to lift hands off wheel by severe vibration 'discomfort'

Several videos circulating online from the two-time world champion’s onboard camera showed him repeatedly taking his hands off the steering wheel on the straights due to the severe vibrations coming from the power unit, an issue the team had already hinted at in Australia.

Speaking to GPblog and other media after the race, Krack explained the “discomfort” that forced the Spaniard to retire before reaching half distance, suggesting the outcome had ultimately been unavoidable.

Asked to provide a timeline for when Aston Martin expects to resolve the vibration issue, the Briton added: "I think that it's very difficult. Obviously everybody's flat out working on that. If we go 10 days back, we were speaking about six laps, and then we found solutions to the problem, especially for the most exposed point, which was the battery at that point. When you go 10 days back and you see we have done all the sessions, the car was out at the start of the session, the car never stopped on track, so there has been progress.

The Spaniard now finds himself reliving a situation reminiscent of ten years ago, when his return to McLaren and the partnership with Honda turned into a complete disaster, a scenario that now appears to be repeating itself - perhaps even more severely - at the start of this season.

Alonso reflected on how his outlook has evolved over the years, explaining that with greater experience and maturity he now views certain situations differently, although he does not believe things were nearly as dramatic a decade ago as they were sometimes portrayed.

The Spaniard also pointed to the nature of Formula 1 as an extremely media-driven environment, where success can quickly elevate a driver to near untouchable status, while difficult periods tend to amplify criticism and scrutiny around them.