In the final hour before the Chinese Grand Prix start in ET, the Mclaren garage turned into a focused, hands-on scramble: panels off, checks repeated, and mechanics working around Lando Norris’s car after an electronics issue was identified. What should have been a routine build-up to the grid became a scene of delay and uncertainty, and it ended with neither Norris nor Oscar Piastri taking the start.
What happened to Mclaren before the Chinese Grand Prix start?
Neither Mclaren driver made the start of Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix, with Norris and Piastri stricken with technical problems before the race.
Roughly an hour before the start, the team was still working on Norris’s car and explained its actions in a short statement: “We had identified an issue on the electronics side, which is why we had removed the floor and checked a number of parts. We believe we have rectified the issue and the team are now in final preparations for the race. ”
Even with that confidence, Norris did not complete his reconnaissance laps to the grid. His car remained in the garage while the team continued working.
Piastri did complete his reconnaissance laps, but his situation deteriorated quickly afterward. Before the start of the formation lap, he encountered problems and was pushed back into the garage.
Just before the formation lap, the team issued another statement, this time focused on Piastri’s car: “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. ”
Which grid spots were empty, and how many cars started?
With both cars stuck in the garage, grid spots five and six were empty as the race started.
Other teams also suffered pre-race setbacks. Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi encountered issues before the race as a technical problem ruled him out before it even began, leaving grid spot 16 empty. Williams driver Alex Albon was set to start from the pitlane but did not make the start either.
As the field finally got going, 18 of the 22 cars were on the grid.
What the team said as it investigated the problems
In the hours and minutes leading up to the start in ET, the public picture of Mclaren’s situation came through the team’s own brief descriptions of what it was facing and how it was responding.
For Norris, the team pointed to an electronics-side issue and described removing the floor and checking a number of parts. It said it believed the issue had been rectified and that final preparations were underway.
For Piastri, the team said it had identified an issue that prevented the car from starting from the grid, and that it had returned the car to the garage for further investigation.
What remained on display was the immediate human reality of race-day technical trouble: Norris unable to take even the basic step of completing reconnaissance laps, Piastri making it out and then being pushed back, and two prime grid positions left empty when the lights went out. In the end, mclaren’s start never came.
