Where McLaren stands after China non-start investigation with Mercedes

McLaren believes it can avoid a repeat of the power unit problems which prevented both drivers from making the start of Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Neither Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris were able to take the start of the second round of the season in China after separate technical issues hit their respective MCL40 cars in the lead up to the race.

Norris never made it out of the garage after McLaren encountered an issue on the electronics side, before team-mate Piastri was dramatically wheeled off the grid moments before the start of the formation lap.

It marked a disaster for McLaren, who suffered its first double ‘did not start’ in two decades at Shanghai.

McLaren was left unsure about the cause of its power unit-related problems but appears to have gotten to the bottom of the issue after carrying out a joint investigation with engine supplier Mercedes in the two-week gap between races.

Ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, McLaren stated in its press release previewing the Suzuka race that it has gathered “important learnings from valuable time spent in Woking reviewing the opening two weekends of the season.”

The release made reference to a joint investigation with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) to “make sure that the two separate faults suffered in Shanghai don’t occur again”.

McLaren added it heads to Japan “fully prepared to be in position to take on the challenge of securing strong points while continuing to work hard to close the gap versus the leading two teams.”

McLaren's title defence off to bad start

The reigning world champions sit third in the constructors’ championship on 18 points, 80 behind current F1 pacesetters Mercedes.

Norris’s title defence has got off to a torrid start, with the Briton sixth in the drivers’ standings on 15 points, while Piastri is yet to complete a grand prix lap in 2026 and collected just three points in the China sprint.

“Reflecting on the opening rounds of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, we have seen two very different circuit layouts. The Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Park provided medium and high-speed chicanes, whereas the Shanghai International Circuit in China provided long, low and medium speed corners,” McLaren performance technical director Mark Temple said.

“Even though we are only in the early stages of this new generation of Formula 1, we have already experienced two different power unit challenges and requirements in terms of harvest and deployment, affecting areas such as driving approach and racing tactics.

“Looking ahead to this weekend in Japan, we expect to see something a little more like Melbourne. Suzuka remains a unique and challenging circuit layout with its iconic corners, but like Melbourne it is a more energy-starved track. We therefore anticipate more artefacts of energy recovery in a number of areas of the circuit such as entering Turn 1. This will be an important area to optimise along with the chassis and tyre performance.

“We knew 2026 was going to bring a lot of new challenges, and we will continue to build our understanding and our performance united as one team. This understanding will put us in the best position to maximise chassis performance and power unit exploitation, both key areas for competitiveness."