Kulthard: It's the car that suffers more from the vibrations, not the drivers.

      David Coulthard believes that the vibration issues that Aston Martin engineers and Honda power unit suppliers are trying to tackle lead to mechanical failures more than they create discomfort for the drivers.

      Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from the Chinese Grand Prix after 32 laps due to excessive vibrations. Before Aston Martin decided to retire from the race, the two-time champion complained over the radio that his "hands and feet are starting to lose feeling."

      However, Coulthard, participating in another episode of the Up To Speed podcast, suggested that the vibrations might affect the drivers less than everyone thinks.

      "Let’s try to look at the bigger picture again, and in this case, I’m speaking without knowing exactly what Fernando feels behind the wheel of the AMR26," reflected the former Formula 1 driver. "Watching the footage from the onboard cameras of his Aston Martin, I remembered that I had driven cars when the tires had bald spots, when balancing weights fell off the wheel rims, and this led to vibrations that were transmitted to the steering wheel.

      The steering wheel would start to physically vibrate, but I never retired from a Grand Prix because of that, because you always want to score points. But if there was a chance to pit, I would take it.

      You’ve seen those guys on construction sites who have to work with jackhammers or drills all day long, and they do this every day. And no one says, "I’m not coming to work today because my hands hurt from the jackhammer."

      Maybe the team is using this moment related to a certain discomfort just to continue shifting the overall attention to Honda? I suspect that this is more related to reliability issues than to the drivers.

      Personally, I believe that any driver is ready to learn to perform the national anthem in reverse while simultaneously wielding a chainsaw if it allows them to gain even a tenth of a second."