Stella backs Norris and Piastri mindset after crushing McLaren double DNS

Andrea Stella insists McLaren’s drivers have the right mindset to bounce back after the team suffered a crushing double DNS at the Chinese Grand Prix.

McLaren recorded a double DNS in Shanghai on Sunday when both MCL40s suffered electrical issues with their power units and weren’t able to start the grand prix.

Andrea Stella confident Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will bounce back

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Piastri and Norris qualified fifth and sixth for Sunday’s grand prix and were set to line up behind the Mercedes and Ferrari teammates.

However, McLaren discovered an issue with Norris’ car when the team went to fire it up as it began its preparations for the grand prix.

The team, along with engine supplier Mercedes HPP, worked to resolve the issue and even changed Norris’ ECU. But there was, as Stella put it, ‘no way to fix the problem.’

Piastri made it a little further in the process as he was able to complete his recon laps and make his way to the grid, parking his car in the fifth grid box. But minutes before the formation lap, McLaren also noticed an electrical issue with his PU and pushed his MCL40 off the grid and back into the garage.

McLaren wasn’t able to get either car going in time for the grand prix.

The DNS marked reigning World Champion Norris’ first in his Formula 1 career, while for Piastri, it was his second in two races after crashing on his recon lap on the way to the grid in Melbourne.

Both while both drivers were disappointed in the immediate aftermath, McLaren team principal Stella isn’t worried that Sunday’s DNS will have a lingering impact on his drivers.

More on McLaren’s Chinese GP woes

Lando Norris reveals issue behind McLaren DNS disaster in China

Andrea Stella explains rare McLaren double-DNS in Chinese GP

“It is a tough moment, that’s for sure,” Stella admitted, “like if we consider that Oscar has not been able to start a race in this start of the 2026 campaign, that’s pretty difficult for Oscar to process.

“But at the same time, and this was testified and witnessed in the conversation with Lando and Oscar after the race, both remain quite positive.

“I think what we have gone through at McLaren in terms of the journey for ’23 is been such a good journey of developing a culture, a mindset, what we call, internally, a winner’s mindset, just a positive attitude and which focuses us on what we can control.

“In this case, there wasn’t much we could have controlled so we just take any possible learning, and we go again.

“And we say, like even looking at last year, when we won the double championship, we said, and I said that publicly but we definitely said internally, the victory was not in Abu Dhabi, the victory was in Qatar and in Vegas, for the way we withstood the difficulties. That’s where you really become a champion.

“So today, this is part of the same part of the journey, which is the day in which you have to withstand the difficulty, you have to process it, and you have to use it to become even more of a worthwhile champion in the future and gain the qualities to be a champion.

“That’s our mindset, and I’ve seen it completely in play today with Oscar, with Lando, and with the team.”

In fact, the biggest concern is the championship standings with McLaren looking to defend both titles.

After two race weekends, Norris is sixth in the standings on 15 points, 36 down on championship leader George Russell. Piastri has just three points.

As for McLaren, it trails Mercedes by 70 points.

“The most detrimental aspect of not being able to participate in this race is the points in the championship,” Stella admitted.

“Okay, while at the moment, Mercedes seems to be in the wrong category and we are a little closer to Ferrari, we obviously race with the ambition to compete for important results, and we are just losing ground.

“These points could have been important at the end of the season so the most important shortcoming of what happened is not scoring the points.

“Every lap is important in 2026. At the same time, I think we are learning quite rapidly, and with what we have learned in Australia and in the sprint, we think we are actually in a good position now in terms of especially exploiting the power unit. So definitely more data would have been very useful.

“But what we regretted the most today is not having the championship points.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

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