F1 world champion Lando Norris already on last penalty-free battery after more engine issues

Lando Norris has suffered a fresh blow to his hopes of defending his Formula 1 world championship as a knock-on effect of his non-start at the Chinese Grand Prix.

On top of failing to score any points as a result of being unable to start the Shanghai race due to a problem with the electrical component on McLaren’s Mercedes engines, Norris has been left in battery strife. 

The reigning world champion suffered an issue that caused permanent damage to the battery in his MCL40, leaving it unusable. As such, Norris lost one of his three permitted batteries for the entire 2026 season and had to take on a new battery for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. 

Further ERS problems then hit Norris's car ahead of final practice at Suzuka, which forced McLaren to change the component and meant the Briton missed half of FP3. 

Norris has now moved onto his third and final battery for the 2026 season, with any further changes triggering automatic grid penalties. 

It was the third hybrid-related issue to strike McLaren in two races, and came after Norris lost vital track time in FP2 with a hydraulic leak. 

His team-mate Oscar Piastri’s battery was salvageable and he has been able to continue with the same unit after having an internal component fixed following an investigation with Mercedes’ High Performance Powertrains (HPP) engine division.

“We understand the source of the problem,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said on Friday. "In both cases it was related to the electrical side of the power unit.

“We had faults on the battery, different faults pretty much at the same time of the weekend. This is quite exceptional. We have worked together with HPP to investigate the problem. I think the problem is now understood.

“It’s not the same on the two batteries. On Oscar’s side we were in position to use the same battery, because we could apply some repairs, while on Lando’s side we needed to go onto a new battery pack.”

Norris is already 36 points adrift of George Russell in the early championship standings, while McLaren sits third in the constructors’ championship, a whopping 80 points behind leaders Mercedes.

Piastri has failed to complete a racing lap in a grand prix this season, having also crashed on his way to the grid before the start of his home race at the Australian Grand Prix. He has scored just three points from the China sprint race. 

McLaren had said it was not worried about suffering a repeat of the issues which ruined its weekend in China.

“We trust 100 percent that HPP has put in place remedials,” Stella added. “I think we are exposed as a team, likewise all other teams maybe exposed. There’s no team dependency in the kind of problem we had on the electrical side.

“HPP have very high standards when they have information to process from a fault. For sure they will execute and put in place all the necessary learnings, adaptations and actions to avoid a repeat.

“So we are looking forward here to having a regular weekend, which we didn’t have the chance to have in China and to some extent Australia, with Oscar spinning on the lap to the grid.”