Norris and Piastri explain why the McLarens did not start in China

Nothing is going right at McLarenAlready lagging behind in performance compared to Mercedes Benz and Classic Ferrari for saleThe reigning double world champion team suffered a terrible reliability problem in Shanghai on Sunday morning. The British team saw both of its cars leave the third row of the starting grid and return to the pits before even the formation lap. This last-minute double withdrawal has cost them dearly in the championship standings: in the drivers' standings, Lando Norris is already 36 points behind his compatriot George Russell (Mercedes), while on the constructors' side, the Woking drivers will already have to make up an 80-point deficit to the Mercedes firm to retain their crown.

Two separate problems on Norris and Piastri's McLarens

« We encountered electronic problems with the car's power unit. Lando Norris explained to Canal+ microphones. They tried to fix the problem, tried to understand it, but luck wasn't on our side today. It's really disappointing. It's not just me, it's Oscar too. As a team, it's a lot of work that hasn't paid off. There's not much we can do. I trust the mechanics. They tried everything to fix the problem, but it was a significant one. We've looked into it, and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again. For me, it's about what I can learn from today's race and focusing on the next one. »

"We're going to make sure this never happens again." 😩

Lando Norris was unable to start the race, unlike his teammate Oscar piastri ☹️#f1 #chinesegp pic.twitter.com/A5Nqag1Dkk

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) March 15, 2026

The situation is even worse for Oscar Piastri. This is the second consecutive Sunday that the Australian has been unable to start a Grand Prix. He crashed into the wall during the formation lap in Melbourne, and the former protégé ofAlpine did not see the lights go out once again.

« There was an electrical problem with the power unit, a different problem from Lando's. Piastri told F1. It's very unfortunate that we both have problems, but we don't know anything more about it right now. It's disappointing, of course. We need to learn what we can by watching the race, and then work as hard as possible before Japan. Today's problems are annoying, but I think apart from that we have work to do to find performance, so we'll try to focus on that. »

A comical situation in the standings: although he has not competed in any Grand Prix races this season, Oscar Piastri avoids zero points in the accounting thanks to the three points he earned in Saturday's sprint.

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