Stroll echoes Newey with alarming verdict: 'Like you electrocute yourself on a chair'

Responding to recent comments from the Aston Martin team principal, who claimed the strong vibrations generated by the Honda engine could even cause permanent nerve damage to the drivers’ hands, the Canadian told F1 TV: "It's not good. We're trying to get on top of it, fix it. We have some ideas this week, to solve some of those issues and we'll see in FP1 if it's better than it was in Bahrain.

Asked whether the team would really have to retire the car after just a handful of laps in the race, the Canadian concluded: "We don't know, it all depends on if we've improved from Bahrain. If we still have the same vibration issues with the car, it's going to be hard to do more than 10-15 laps. If we resolve the issues, than we can go much further into the race."

Ahead of the Melbourne race weekend, the team principal of the British outfit had sounded the alarm by revealing that the car was suffering from significant vibrations linked to the Honda power unit. According to him, the issue could even prevent the drivers from completing “more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage to his hands.”

However, the Spaniard played down those concerns when speaking to GPblog and other media, insisting the situation is far less dramatic from a driver’s perspective and that it would not stop him from pushing if the car were competitive.