Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. A former member of Oscar Piastri’s inner circle has been called up to help his rival and Formula 1 title favourite George Russell ahead of Sunday’s race because of travel issues caused by the war in the Middle East, while ongoing mechanical problems threatened to derail Aston Martin’s Australian Grand Prix. On a dramatic Friday at Albert Park, Piastri completed a sizzling second practice session to clock the fastest lap for the day, and Aston Martin design guru Adrian Newey revealed his team arrived at the Australian Grand Prix with just two usable batteries. Oscar Piastri clocked the fastest lap in the second practice session on Friday.Credit: Eddie Jim Aston Martin was in damage control after engineers worked through the night to solve a serious vibration problem affecting the Honda power unit. “We are short on batteries,” Newey said. “We’ve only got two batteries left — the two that are in the car.…