Piastri quips ‘been a while since I’ve watch two grands prix on TV’
Oscar Piastri recorded his second successive DNS due to a PU issue in China.
Oscar Piastri can’t remember the last time he watched two successive Formula 1 grands prix on TV, but that’s the fate that awaited him in China when his MCL40 suffered an electrical problem.
Piastri’s start to the F1 2026 season, a year in which he was tipped to challenge for the title, could not have got off to a worse start, even in his nightmares.
Oscar Piastri has two DNS in two races in F1 2026
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Despite qualifying P5 in Australia and again in China, Piastri has yet to score a single grand prix point this season as he’s yet to compete in one.
The Australian crashed on his recon lap in Melbourne and wasn’t able to take the start, while on Sunday in China, an electrical issue with his power unit meant he sat in the garage as the race got underway. So too did his teammate Lando Norris.
McLaren suffered a double electrical-related DNS, however, it was two separate problems.
The team initially noticed a problem with Norris’ car when it went to fire it up as it began its preparations for the grand prix, while Piastri made it through his recon laps and to the grid.
However, parked on the grid, McLaren discovered he too had an electrical issue and pushed his MCL40 back into the garage.
McLaren and Mercedes HPP, who supply the Woking team’s engines, weren’t able to get either car going in time for the grand prix.
It was a disappointing outcome for the team and the drivers.
“Fine on the way to the grid,” Piastri explained to the media. “I think an electrical issue with power unit, which I think was the same Lando, but it wasn’t the same electrical issue.
“So that is obviously disappointing.”
That disappointment compounded by his Australian Grand Prix DNS, which has meant the 24-year-old has scored just three points in two grand prix weekends with a P6 in Saturday’s Sprint in China.
“It’s been a while since I’ve watch two grands prix on TV,” Piastri quipped.
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
He continued: “Last week was pretty rough. These kind of things happen in racing at times, and especially in the beginning of a new regulation.
“It’s probably not a huge surprise. Just a shame that happens to both cars.”
Piastri was one of four drivers, including Norris, Gabriel Bortoleto and Alex Albon, not able to start in China.
For the McLaren pairing, the issue was electrical with the power unit, while Albon had a hydraulic leak and Bortoleto would only say his issue was technical. Three drivers also retired from the grand prix, both Aston Martin cars, of which Fernando Alonso’s DNF was the result of the vibrations from his car’s battery numbing his hands and feet, and Max Verstappen.
It raised questions about Formula 1’s new engine regulations.
“I think they’re just incredibly complex,” Piastri said. “And, you know, there’s so many rules on the power units that you sometimes change one thing and it has a very unintended consequence somewhere else.
“And in a circuit like this, it’s very harvest-rich, so you don’t really have a problem with super clipping or needing to lift the coast, but you’ve got other problems because you can’t harvest as much as you want everywhere and there’s nothing you can do about that as a driver.
“So I think we’re kind of learning. The difficult part is even sometimes, if we know there’s something that we want to do differently, we can’t do anything because it has to be programmed in, or has to be a code change. So it’s complex.”
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