McLaren release statement after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fail to start Chinese Grand Prix

McLaren have provided an update on Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris' sudden withdrawals from the Chinese Grand Prix.

Following an exciting season opening race at Melbourne's Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, the Formula One grid arrived in Shanghai for the second race of the year on Sunday.

After picking up the win in the Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver George Russell won the first sprint race of the season in China, while teammate Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to claim pole position as he secured a P1 start for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Meanwhile McLaren drivers Piastri and Norris secured a P5 and P6 start for Sunday's race following their performance in qualifying, however both drivers later withdrew from the race due to separate issues.

And now, McLaren have released a statement providing a further update on the situation, explaining why exactly both Piastri and Norris failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix.

Both McLaren drivers were forced to withdraw from the Chinese GP. (Image: Jayce Illman/Getty Images)

Norris' withdrawal from the race was confirmed before the formation lap began but Piastri, who also missed his home race in Australia last week, was forced to get out of his car just seconds before the race start.

As it stands, it is not known exactly what issue ruled the McLaren pair out of the race, but McLaren has revealed that it was separate issues on both cars that they will not work to identify,

Posting on X, McLaren wrote: "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."

Worryingly, Norris later confirmed that the exact issue is still unknown and that McLaren will have to work hard to figure out and fix the exact issue ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29.

The reigning champion confirmed that he was warming up for the race when he was told about the issue, which has led to his first non-start in his career.

Lando Norris has admitted that the issue impacting his career is not yet known. (Image: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Following the pair's withdrawal, F1 journalist Adam Cooper revealed that Piastri jokingly said 'fancy seeing you here' when bumping into his teammate in the media pen while the race was ongoing.