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David Croft has claimed that McLaren drivers could be racing with ‘fear’ after a worrying Mercedes engine issue.
McLaren have endured a tough start to the 2026 Formula 1 season, having suffered technical problems in Shanghai which resulted in both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to start the Chinese Grand Prix.
Last time out in Canada, McLaren’s strategic blunder meant Piastri and Norris were out of contention before the race had even got underway.
Despite their troubles, McLaren are still being fancied to claw back the deficit and potentially challenge Mercedes for the title.
During the Canadian Grand Prix, Mercedes suffered their own power unit-related problem as George Russell was forced to retire on Lap 30.
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David Croft claims McLaren drivers will now race with ‘fear’
Speaking ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1 lead commentator Croft has suggested that Russell’s retirement will worry Mercedes’ customer teams.
On the 2026 F1 grid, Mercedes provide power units for McLaren, Williams and Alpine.
Croft stated that he would be worried and would be driving with ‘fear’ after what happened with Russell’s car in Canada.
He said on Sky Sports F1’s Paddock Uncut: “What would worry me if I were a Mercedes driver at the moment, or a McLaren driver, or a Williams driver or an Alpine driver is that they had a terminal failure of the battery.
“And they still don’t quite know why they had a terminal failure. It’s got to be shipped back to the UK, back to Brixworth, I would imagine, where they build the power units.
“And then they can have a look at it. So until they can have a look at it, they don’t know what went wrong necessarily with that battery. So you’re racing with a bit of fear.”
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Bradley Lord claims it will be ‘several months’ before Mercedes understand what happened in Canada
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord has previously stated that the component had to be shipped back to the UK after undergoing ‘unusual’ safety procedures.
Lord said on the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show: “We got the car back. We were able to get the module out of it. It had to undergo some sort of pretty unusual safety procedures and then has to be shipped back to the UK.
“So, it will be several months before the hardware gets back, and we need to really dig through the data to understand exactly what went wrong and then how can we try to prevent a repeat on any other modules in the future.”
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