McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix due to separate technical failures before the race.

SHANGHAI: The McLaren Formula 1 team suffered a disastrous double retirement before the Chinese Grand Prix even began. World champion Lando Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri were both unable to start the race due to separate technical issues.

Norris was stuck in the garage with an electrical problem on his car’s power unit. Mechanics worked frantically but could not resolve the issue in time for him to reach the grid.

Piastri managed to get his car to the grid but was pushed back into the garage minutes later with a different, unspecified problem. The team confirmed both cars were withdrawn due to “separate issues” identified just before the race.

“It is on the PU (power unit) side, so the guys tried as hard as they could to get things sorted, but they were unable to,” Norris told Sky Sports. He described the situation as “just frustrating” and noted it was his first DNS (did not start) in F1.

The double failure compounds a terrible start to the season for the reigning constructors’ world champions. Last weekend in Melbourne, only one McLaren started the race after Piastri crashed on his way to the grid.

This means Piastri has yet to complete a racing lap in a grand prix this season. Norris finished fifth in Melbourne and fourth in Saturday’s Shanghai sprint race, while Piastri was sixth in the sprint.

Williams driver Alexander Albon and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto also failed to start the race in Shanghai. McLaren stated it will now work to identify the root cause of each car’s failure.

 The Sun Malaysia