Ted Kravitz explains why Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri not starting the Chinese GP was so ‘strange’

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Four cars failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix as they were wheeled off the grid and into the garage with various mechanical problems. Two of them were the McLarens.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the third row of the grid after finishing fourth and sixth in the Sprint race. However, both cars were taken back to the garage from the grid and would not make it out again for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve thinks McLaren did not ‘work so hard’ on their 2026 car compared to Mercedes. In Shanghai, the Brackley outfit secured another 1-2 for the race, while their papaya rivals did not start at all.

Disaster for Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto as they fail to start the Chinese Grand Prix!

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It is a disaster for the team and defending champion Norris, but even more so for his teammate. He has failed to complete a single lap in 2026 after Piastri crashed in Melbourne on his way to the grid.

Jolyon Palmer said Piastri would ‘pay the price’ for his Australia crash as he would be less accustomed to the new regulations. Now, he is even more at a disadvantage after failing to start the opening two races.

Ted Kravitz says ‘nothing’s changed’ on McLaren’s cars since qualifying as they fail to start Chinese GP

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 (15/03, 6:58 am), pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz gave his assessment of the issues at McLaren as the formation lap began.

“So we’re just waiting for confirmation from McLaren that it is a similar issue. The strange thing is nothing’s changed since the Sprint race yesterday, in which both McLarens obviously could start up and then finish,” he said,

“And safe to say for the Grand Prix qualifying where the cars were running fine. Nothing’s changed between then and this morning.

“But when they tried to fire them up, they’re just having these electronic problems, and whether it’s a problem with the ECU or other bits of it, multiple issues potentially, we’re waiting to find out.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Ted Kravitz confirms McLaren suffered two ‘completely different’ and random electrical problems

During the race, Kravitz later got confirmation from McLaren that they suffered two separate issues on Norris and Piastri’s cars.

“I’ve got the info from McLaren, Crofty,” he added. “They’re two completely different electrical issues. They are related to the power unit, so it’s an interface between McLaren and Mercedes.

“A completely random set of circumstances, the team tell us. The cars were fine when they came in for qualifying, they were fine in the Sprint race, just a terrible coincidence that both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris should have issues such as that.”

On X (formerly Twitter), McLaren posted: “Unfortunately we identified separate issues on both cars which prevented them from starting the Chinese GP, with Oscar’s being removed from the grid shortly before the formation lap. We will now work to identify each issue.”