A frustrated Lando Norris did not see action during the Chinese GP on Sunday. McLaren struggled with electrical problems, which meant both he and teammate Oscar Piastri could not participate. The Englishman – who was actually supposed to start from sixth place – initially wanted to try starting from the pit lane, but the team could not get his MCL40 running. For Norris, this was the first DNS of his Formula 1 career.
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“I heard about twenty minutes before I was supposed to leave the garage that the team had identified a problem,” Norris sighed to the media. “They had been tinkering for a while because of an electrical problem in the engine. Ultimately, that led to me not being able to start. It’s a shame, because this is my first DNS in Formula 1,” he said disappointedly. “That’s sad enough, but the fact that Oscar (Piastri, ed.) also couldn’t start makes it all even worse. So yeah, not a great day for us,” Norris concluded.
The Englishman emphasized that this was a setback for the whole team. “It’s just disappointing,” he continued. “I’m gutted that I couldn’t do my job today, but I also understand the frustrations of the whole team. I have a lot of respect for the mechanics. Everyone puts in a lot of work, but an F1 car is simply a complex machine. In addition, there are of course many new things, which means you always run into unexpected problems. Everyone is disappointed that we didn’t get the car running today, but we will do everything we can to solve the problem,” Norris assured.
Read more Chaos at McLaren complete! Oscar Piastri also cannot start in China
‘Needed some luck’
The world champion did get into the cockpit at some point. Did he have confidence in a start from the pit lane? “No, the problem hadn’t been solved yet,” he admitted. “But you never know. In the first few laps, I even stayed in the car just in case there was a red flag. A bit of luck would have done us good, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Today it wasn’t meant to be.”
McLaren later confirmed that Norris and Piastri had encountered two different electrical problems. “After investigating the problems with both cars, two different electrical faults in the powertrain were found to be the cause of the double DNS,” the team wrote on social media. It represents a significant blow for the reigning world champions, who are currently in third place in the standings.
Read more McLaren must sit out Chinese GP, investigates problems for Norris and Piastri
Read everything about the Chinese GP here
