McLaren had to pull both their cars out of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both failed to start the Chinese GP (Image: Getty)

McLaren suffered a nightmare Sunday in Shanghai as both their cars failed to even make it to the starting grid of the Chinese Grand Prix. Problems were first detected on the car due to be driven by Lando Norris, before the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri was also wheeled off the track and back into the pit lane when another issue was spotted.

The end result was that neither of them was able to take to the start, leaving a huge gap on the grid with the fifth and sixth starting slots, which were due to be occupied by the two McLaren cars, completely empty as the lights went out.

And they were not the only ones who didn’t make it to the grid for the start in Shanghai. Four cars failed to start as reliability problems struck, with Alex Albon forced to jump back out of his Williams because of hydraulic issues, while Audi suffered a second mechanical problem shortly before a Grand Prix in as many weeks, this time Gabriel Bortoleto being wheeled back to the garage.

But their teams were able to still at least field one of their cars, while McLaren found themselves disassembling both their cars and garages much earlier than they would have wanted. It was especially disastrous for Piastri who also crashed on a reconnaisance lap before last Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, meaning after the first two rounds he has still yet to complete a single GP lap.

Issues were first detected on Norris’ car, which forced them to return it to the garage in the hope of rectifying the problem in time for the Brit to be able to start from the pit lane. But then they confirmed: “We also identified an issue on Oscar’s car, which means we were unable to start the car from the grid. We have now returned the car to the garage to further investigate the issue there.”
In the end, neither could be fixed in time for the start of the Grand Prix. The team said: “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.”

They missed out on another exciting race start, with F1’s youngest ever pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli getting away well but finding himself powerless to prevent the quick-launching Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton from zooming past to take the lead. He was able to prevent Charles Leclerc from doing the same in the other red car, though, and the pace of his Mercedes was enough to soon retake the lead.

They all kept things clean but there was a spin further back for Isack Hadjar as he duelled with Oliver Bearman, the Haas driver somehow managing to avoid slamming into the Red Bull in the process. The Frenchman was able to continue, but Lance Stroll did not last much longer as he pulled over his Aston Martin on lap 10, prompting an early safety car.