Lando Norris on cusp of grid penalty after fresh reliability blow in Japan

Lando Norris faces an early-season grid penalty after fresh ERS trouble hit his McLaren ahead of final practice in Japan.

The 2025 world champion sat out most of the final practice hour after the team identified an issue in his McLaren MCL40 ahead of the session.

Lando Norris on brink of grid drop after latest Mercedes engine issue

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In the minutes prior to Free Practice 3 at Suzuka, McLaren issued a statement revealing a battery issue had been detected on Norris’ car.

“The team have identified an issue with the ERS pack on Lando’s car, which now needs to be replaced,” it announced.

“At the moment, it looks extremely unlikely that the car will make FP3, but the team are still working to prepare the car should it be possible to participate in the session.”

McLaren seemingly defied its own expectations with the repair, with Norris out on track with 22 minutes remaining.

He ended the session sixth fastest, 1.3 seconds off the pace laid down by Kimi Antonelli and three-tenths back from teammate Oscar Piastri.

While a noteworthy response from the team, the ordeal sees Norris on his third battery of the season.

The problems come off the back of a weekend in China where neither McLaren started the race, the first time no McLaren had been on the grid in over four decades.

“China was definitely a challenging and frustrating event,” said McLaren team boss Andrea Stella.

“We understand the source of the problem. In both cases, it was related to the electrical side of the power unit.

“We had faults on the battery, but different faults, pretty much at the same time of the weekend.

“On Oscar’s side, we were in condition to reuse the same battery because we could apply some repairs.

“On Lando’s side, we needed to go on to a new battery pack.”

More on McLaren’s F1 2026 season

McLaren reveal Lando Norris battery failure fix after Chinese GP chaos
Lando Norris backs McLaren title charge despite double DNS in China

Under the latest generation of regulations, drivers are afforded only two batteries for the season – though an additional unit has been granted in 2026 to acknowledge the challenges posed by the first year of the new rules.

With a second battery fitted ahead of Japan, and another ahead of Practice 2, another new battery at any point during the season will result in a 10-place grid penalty.

It’s unclear whether the problem found ahead of final practice can be resolved with that battery finding its way back into Norris’ pool.

On Friday, Norris’ running was limited after a hydraulics problem was identified on his car.

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