What happened in Shanghai
From a double podium at the end of the 2025 Grand Prix to a double retirement without even starting the race just twelve months later, it seems that everything has changed for McLaren. The Woking-based team, which secured three of the last four major titles in Formula 1 – the two Constructors’ Championships and the 2025 Drivers’ Championship with Lando Norris – has started the 2026 season behind the Mercedes and Ferrari duo, who currently appear to have a slight advantage over the competition.
In Shanghai, the papaya team encountered electronic issues with Lando Norris’ McLaren well before lining up on the grid. Oscar Piastri’s car seemed to be running fine initially, but ultimately even the Australian’s MCL40 was removed from the starting grid and did not take part in the Grand Prix.
“On Lando Norris’ car we found problems with the electrical part of the power unit,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained during the press conference. “We were unable to communicate with this component. We tried to resolve the problem by replacing as many components as possible without necessarily swapping that specific component, because doing so would have taken too much time and would not have allowed us to make it to the race start. We reprogrammed the ECU, but there was no way to fix the issue, and Lando’s car simply wasn’t ready to leave the garage. As for Oscar’s car, it reached the grid without any problem, but once on the grid, the car would not restart, in a similar way to what happened with Lando. However, it was easier to diagnose the issue on Oscar’s car. It seems to be the same power unit component on the electrical side, but of a different nature.”
“Obviously, this is an area of the car that is not under McLaren’s direct control, so we rely entirely on the information provided by Mercedes HPP (High Powertrain Performance) and trust their report completely,” Andrea Stella added. “According to their assessment, the two problems are currently of a different nature. We understand the nature of the problem, but not the root cause. A physical inspection will be required because, based on the data available to us or from a superficial external inspection, there is nothing indicating a specific primary cause, other than generally stating that the problem is located in a certain area.”
The technical complexity of the 2026 engines therefore means that even world-champion teams like McLaren are vulnerable to minute electronic glitches. As the paddock prepares for the Japanese Grand Prix, the focus in Woking will be on reliability testing and deep-dive forensics to prevent a repeat of the Shanghai disaster. For the McLaren fans of the papaya team, the hope is that the physical inspections at Brixworth yield a quick fix before the lights go out in Japan.
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