McLaren boss Andrea Stella says battery faults that caused both cars to miss the Chinese Grand Prix have been addressed by Mercedes HPP, expressing full confidence they won't recur at Suzuka.
Following the double non-start in China detailed in prior analysis—where Lando Norris' battery was bricked by a software glitch and Oscar Piastri's suffered a hardware fault in an auxiliary component—McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has voiced strong trust in Mercedes-Benz High Performance Powertrains (HPP) ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Stella described the China incident as a 'challenging and frustrating event,' marking the first time since the 2005 United States GP that neither McLaren car started a race (previously in 1966 with Serenissima V12 issues). With Piastri yet to complete a race lap this season and Norris failing to reach the grid in China, the team hopes for a 'regular weekend' in Japan, including giving Piastri his first laps.
'We have worked together with HPP to investigate the problem. We trust 100% that HPP have put in place remedials,' Stella said, praising their 'learnings, adaptations and actions.' The team also noted Piastri's spin en route to the grid in Australia as part of early-season misfortunes now hopefully behind them.
