Piastri's F1 catastrophe: McLaren explain China disaster

It's been quite some time since Oscar Piastri managed to watch two Formula One races from the sidelines - his words.

Three points from a sprint race and zero laps of a Grand Prix completed.

It’s not how anyone imagined Piastri’s 2026 season would start.

Sadly, it’s a reality the Aussie and McLaren will have to come to terms with after a double disaster in China.

Piastri had been due to start from fifth in Shanghai with his teammate Lando Norris in sixth. Neither car made it out of the pitlane as their rivals headed off for a formation lap.

There were thin hopes the duo could have started from pitlane and salvaged something from the race. It was not to be.

"It (the issue with the car) was once I got out of the car," Piastri said. "Not exactly sure what it is but I’m told it’s an electrical issue.

"It’s been a while since I’ve watched two F1 races from the sidelines. The Ferraris look good for now we will see how long that lasts for."

It’s the second consecutive race that Piastri has failed to make the start line for after he spun out on the formation lap in Melbourne last weekend.

It makes him the the first McLaren driver to record consecutive DNS races since Bruce McLaren in 1969.

"I am gutted for Oscar Piastri, this is not the start of a season he would have anticipated," David Croft said on Sky F1.

Whatever went wrong with the cars, it was not the same issue for both drivers.

"Unfortunately, we identified separate issues on both cars which prevented them from starting the Chinese GP, with Oscar's being removed from the grid shortly before the formation lap. We will now work to identify each issue,” McLaren sent out on their social media platforms after it was confirmed neither car would start.

After the race, team principal Andrea Stella explanied the issue and apologised to his drivers.

"We came here to go racing and today we were not in condition to do so due to technical problems. This is very frustrating and disappointing for the team, drivers, our technical and commercial partners and the fans," Stella told Sky Sports F1.

"We are sorry for that. We will regroup, understand the technical problems and go again in Japan. Once we were preparing the car of Lando, to leave the garage, we found a problem on the electrical side of the power unit. We tried to fix it but there was no way to fix it.

"Once we were on the grid, we found another problem, on the electrical side of the power unit on Oscar's side. They seemed to be different problems occurring at the same time and they basically meant there was no way to start the race.

"Something that is an extremely unfortunate coincidence of two different problems on the electrical side of the power unit, appearing at the same time. But that's what it is.

"We go as one team. We will investigate together with HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains) and we will see what the learning is and make sure it doesn't happen again."

It's the first double "did not start" for McLaren since Indianapolis in 2005 and the first for Norris in his career.

"We can’t race," Norris said after it was confirmed he would not race. "It's frustrating. We tried to find a solution, but we weren’t able to. This is my first non-start in F1 and it’s tough to take.

"I’m not sure (when the team knew) but maybe an hour or so before I went out. I was preparing to go out and found out about it.

"They know it’s an issue they can’t fix for now and they need to know more."