Formula One champions McLaren are looking to turn recent disappointment into future gain after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to start Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.

It was the first no-start of reigning champion Norris’s F1 career, while Australian teammate Piastri has yet to complete a lap in two races this season after crashing on his way to the grid at the opening round in Australia.

Piastri had qualified fifth and Norris sixth, but both drivers encountered problems with the electrical side of their Mercedes power units, which could not be fixed in the limited time available.

The last time McLaren failed to start a race with either car was the infamous 2005 U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, which saw only six drivers compete due to Michelin tyre concerns.

Difficult for Piastri to Process

“If we consider that Oscar has not been able to start a race at the start of the 2026 campaign, that’s pretty difficult for him to process,” team principal Andrea Stella told reporters. “But at the same time, both remain quite positive.

“I think what we have gone through at McLaren, in terms of the journey from 2023, has been such a good journey of developing a culture and a mindset—what we call internally a winner’s mindset.

“Last year, when we won the double championship, we said internally that the victory was not in Abu Dhabi, but in Qatar and Las Vegas, for the way we withstood difficulties. That’s where you really become a champion.”

In Qatar last November, Piastri was denied a win due to a strategy blunder. In Las Vegas, both McLarens were disqualified for a skid plank breach after finishing second and fourth.

“You have to withstand difficulty, process it, and use it to become an even more worthy champion in the future,” Stella added. “That’s our mindset, and I saw it fully in action today with Oscar, Lando, and the team.”

Stella said the problems in China were different for each car and appeared coincidental, though they involved the same component. He described it as a “tough moment” to lose out on potential points so early in the championship due to factors outside the team’s control.

“It’s quite exceptional and uncharacteristic to have two terminal problems almost simultaneously on the same component,” the Italian said. “We will review this together with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains to understand the cause of these faults. Once we have gone deeper, we will be able to make a more comprehensive assessment and see if anything was actually on the McLaren side.” -Reporting by Alan BaldwinEditing by Christian Radnedge/Reuters