McLaren's double DNS
McLaren were forced into a double DNS in Shanghai after power‑unit failures — Oscar Piastri was pulled from the grid on his out‑lap and Lando Norris never left the pitlane, underlining fresh reliability pain under the 2026 power‑unit rules. The weekend highlighted how compressed sprint formats and tighter PU allocations are turning small failures into race‑ending disasters for teams. ( #)
Both McLaren cars were declared non‑starters at the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit on 15 March 2026, leaving the team without a finish for Round 2 of the season. (mclaren.com)) McLaren’s official report said separate electrical faults on the power‑unit side prevented both cars from taking the start and that the team will carry out a joint investigation with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP). (mclaren.com)) Team principal Andrea Stella confirmed it was the first time Lando Norris had missed a Grand Prix start in his eight‑year Formula 1 career. (mclaren.com)) McLaren and HPP attempted multiple hardware and software fixes during pre‑race preparation, including fitting a replacement ECU to Norris’s car, but the changes failed to restore communication with the affected power‑unit electronics. (planetf1.com)) The squad described the occurrence as “exceptional” and said the two failures appeared to be terminal electrical faults affecting the same component family, marking McLaren’s first double DNS in over 20 years. (planetf1.com)) Oscar Piastri is now without a completed Grand Prix lap after two rounds — he failed to start in Australia before the Shanghai non‑start — leaving the driver with zero race laps completed in 2026 so far. (motorsportsclicks.com)) Shanghai hosted the first Sprint weekend of 2026, and the compressed sprint timetable with two parc‑fermé deadlines reduces the windows teams have to diagnose and replace complex electrical power‑unit components between sessions. (formula1.com)) The 2026 power‑unit regulations shift a far greater share of power to electrical systems and impose strict homologation and component‑quota rules, meaning a single failed control‑electronics or ERS part can become a race‑ending issue that requires formal investigations and sealed‑component changes. (formula1.com))
