Aston Martin is reportedly considering an early retirement in Australia due to a shortage of spare parts

Via DeepL:

Aston Martin has fallen into a black hole. And the main cause of this precipitous decline stems from Honda. The RA626H power unit fitted to the AMR26 proved to be a major problem that prevented the Silverstone team from conducting normal testing in the second session in Bahrain.

Honda arrived at the Melbourne debut completely unprepared. Breakdowns during testing caused a crisis in the supply of spare parts, and for a moment, the idea of skipping Australia was even considered, citing force majeure.

It would have been a disaster for F1 to start the cycle of agile single-seaters without a team and the penalties that Aston Martin would have had to pay for breaking the Concorde Agreement, which regulates the commercial agreements between the teams and the promoter.

The AMR26 will therefore be in the pits in Melbourne, but the intention will be to cover the minimum distance to get into the race and then stop after a few laps. In the meantime, a sort of crisis unit has been set up to support Honda in this difficult and dramatic moment, and Newey’s staff is in frequent contact with the Japanese team in Sakura to address the priorities that need to be resolved.