• Team have two battery units with no replacements

• Alonso and Stroll completed only limited runs in practice

Aston Martin’s disastrous start to the new Formula One season grew even worse after free practice in Australia with the team principal, Adrian Newey, revealing there were now fears they would not be able to take part in Saturday’s qualifying or Sunday’s race at the Albert Park circuit.

On Thursday Newey had hosted an extraordinary press conference, at which he had admitted that a severe vibration issue with the team’s Honda engine meant their drivers were in danger of receiving permanent nerve damage through the steering wheel. Newey said Fernando Alonso believed he could manage only 25 laps in the car and his teammate Lance Stroll only 15, both well short of half the 58-lap race distance in Melbourne.