Bernie Collins questions McLaren’s ‘unusual’ Lando Norris wing repairs at the Australian Grand Prix

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Bernie Collins thinks it was “very unusual” that McLaren did not replace Lando Norris’ front wing during qualifying for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, before he secured P6.

Norris will start his defence of the F1 drivers’ championship from the rear of the third row of the Australian GP grid. The 26-year-old will start the race on Sunday alongside his teammate and home favourite Oscar Piastri, after he lapped 0.095s slower than the Melbourne native.

McLaren were almost a full second off the pace set by George Russell as the Mercedes racer secured the first pole position of the 2026 F1 season on Saturday. Russell sealed pole for the Australian GP with a 1:18.518 lap in Q3, compared to Piastri’s 1:19.380 and Norris’ 1:19.475.

Russell even secured pole ahead of his Mercedes teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who had brought out the red flags earlier in Q3. The Silver Arrows mistakenly left a fan in the Italian’s right-hand sidepod, which Norris also struck after it fell out of his car after the exit of Turn 2.

Half a second between Mercedes and the rest

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Bernie Collins questions why McLaren only repaired Lando Norris’ broken front wing in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix

Running over Antonelli’s cooling fan damaged the end of Norris’ front wing, but McLaren did not replace it amid the red flag stoppage during qualifying at the Australian GP. Instead, the papaya squad repaired Norris’ front wing with gaffer tape, which Collins did not understand.

READ MORE: All you need to know about the 2026 F1 season, from the calendar to drivers

Former McLaren strategist Collins questioned whether the Woking crew had a spare wing to fit on Norris’ car after spotting their engineers try to quickly repair the damaged part during qualifying. Norris’ wing was significantly damaged, but the tape largely covered the damage.

Collins said on Sky Sports F1 (07/03, 06:09): “It’s very unusual to see that sort of repair work going on, on a front wing during qualifying. Given that we have all seen the damage to the wing, they should consider changing it for another one.

“Maybe they’re worried about the other one not being as good as the one they’ve currently got on the car. But the other one’s probably better than one with a load of tape on the bottom of it, in my impression.

“So, it sounds like maybe they don’t have one of the right spec built up, or they know it’s well down on downforce, because having all that tape on the bottom is an unsimulated condition for Lando Norris to run that wing in.”

McLaren’s decision not to replace Lando Norris’ front wing may have cost him three positions

Like Collins, Norris may also question McLaren’s decision not to replace his front wing during qualifying for the Australian GP during the red flag stoppage him running over the cooling fan from Antonelli’s car caused. Norris striking Antonelli’s fan shattered debris across the circuit.

While McLaren’s “unusual” decision to repair Norris’ front wing would have limited the time he lost from the damage, it would have still cost the 2025 champion time. A new front wing might have been the difference between Norris out-qualifying Piastri for P5 and finishing P6.

Red Bull racer Isack Hadjar in P3 and Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc in P4 might have even been within Norris’ reach with a new front wing on his McLaren MCL40. Hadjar only out-qualified Norris by 0.172s, and Leclerc only beat the Bristol-born pilot’s best lap time in Q3 by 0.148s.