Norris confident of turnaround after McLaren’s China double DNS disaster

Lando Norris has backed McLaren to recover from a nightmare start to 2026 after a rare double DNS in China.

McLaren lined up on the grid at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as the defending champions, having won both titles last season. But F1’s reset of the regulations meant that it didn’t count for much.

Lando Norris backs McLaren recovery after China DNS setback

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Instead, it is Mercedes which has emerged as the team to beat, with the Brackley squad living up to its pre-season billing as the favourites.

McLaren, meanwhile, has fallen behind Ferrari in the pecking order as it has struggled with energy management with the all-new engines. McLaren is, according to team principal Andrea Stella, “on the back foot” regarding its Mercedes power unit usage compared to the works team.

The situation wasn’t helped when the team failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix, Norris and Piastri out with two separate electrical issues on their power units.

While McLaren discovered an issue with Norris’ car during pre-race preparations, Piastri made it to the grid only for the team to find a problem with his power unit when it fired it up ahead of the formation lap.

That left McLaren already 80 points behind Mercedes in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship as Norris and Piastri watched on from the sidelines while Kimi Antonelli and George Russell claimed another 1-2 result for Mercedes.

McLaren drivers react to double DNF in China

Piastri quips ‘been a while since I’ve watch two grands prix on TV’

Lando Norris reveals issue behind McLaren DNS disaster in China

Despite the setback, Norris insists he has faith that McLaren will recover.

The Briton has urged his team to make the most of the new gap in the calendar between Japan and Miami to work on developing the MCL40 and bringing new parts to the car.

“Every year is different; there is never a guarantee, but I have a lot of hope and faith in the team that we can turn things around from where we are,” he said.

“It is still a long season, and after Japan, there is a good little break coming up, so that’s probably a good thing for us to try and figure things out, and it gives us a bit more time to maybe develop some things to see if we can get it on the car earlier.

“So, as much as it is not the start of the year that we want, I have a lot of confidence in the team that we can improve things, and we can fight for podiums at some point this year, and that we can fight for wins maybe later in the season.

“I want to believe that. Tough start, but I have faith.”

The reigning World Champion concedes he’d be happier about the situation were McLaren performing better, but the team showed during the ground-effect aerodynamic era, that ended in a championship double for McLaren, that it knows how to play catch-up.

“We would both be happier in the car if it were performing better and if we didn’t have issues, but it is not dissimilar to the situation of being behind and having to catch up, like a few years ago,” the Briton added.

“That’s life, and we are where we are, and we have to work together in getting back to the top.”

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