Sunday at the Chinese Grand Prix turned into a nightmare for McLaren. An electrical problem on the power unit prevented Lando Norris from taking the start of the race at the Shanghai International Circuit, despite the sixth-place result he had secured in qualifying. It was an extremely bitter ending to the weekend for the British driver, who did not hide his frustration after seeing his race end before it had even begun.
Lando Norris speaks after the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix
After the race, Norris described how difficult it was to accept such a situation, especially after all the work carried out by the team during the race weekend. The McLaren driver openly explained his disappointment at not even being able to start the race:
“It’s disappointing to come all this way and work so hard, not just me but the whole team, and then not even be able to start the race. We had an electrical problem on the power unit side that prevented us from starting the car. The mechanics worked as hard as they possibly could to try and fix it, but unfortunately we couldn’t solve it.”
Norris then pointed out how the situation felt even more unfortunate considering the problems that also affected the car of his teammate Oscar Piastri.
“What makes it even more frustrating is that Oscar and I seem to have had completely unrelated problems on the two cars, so it really was just a lot of bad luck.”
The British driver also spoke about the mood inside the McLaren team and the determination to understand exactly what happened in order to prevent similar situations in the future.
“We just have to take the hit, understand what the problem was and make sure it never happens again. Everyone in the team is frustrated: our engineers, the mechanics and the colleagues at HPP. We all want to race and score points.”
Norris also wanted to share a message for the fans who had come to the Shanghai International Circuit, expressing his regret at not being able to race in front of them after the strong support they had shown throughout the weekend.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t race in front of the fans here today, especially after all their support. The team is already working hard to find the problem and fix it for next time.”
Finally, the McLaren driver ended his comments by congratulating Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who secured his first Formula 1 victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.
“Finally, congratulations to Kimi on today’s win. Your first victory is something you never forget, so I hope he enjoys this moment to the fullest.”
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