Why McLaren and Piastri have had disastrous start

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It's been a while since I've watched two F1 races from the sidelines.

So, yeah, the frayers look pretty quick at the moment,

but we've seen how long that lasts for.

Oscar Piaestry.

Imagine going from contending for a world title to a spectator

and a frustrated one at that,

because that is the lot of the Australian driver right now

and embarrassing warm-up crash in Melbourne.

And now McLaren did not even start the race in China

with either car, electrical faults across both vehicles.

How has the papaya team got from design wizards at the top of their class

to a bit of a mess?

Not that it will help, but is this not panic stations for the British team?

I'm Patrick Stack.

This is A.V.C. Sport Daily.

Mick Doyle is the A.V.C. Formula One rider.

Mick, we are just two races into the season.

And McLaren has gone from Constructors World Title

and Drivers World Title to a bit of a mess.

How does the team run by Zach Brown and Andreas Stella?

A team that has had all the kudos for being technically the best.

Become unable to even start a race.

Well, effectively, it happens with the new regulations,

the difference between the cars from last year to this year,

are polar in difference.

So we have a new regulation overhaul where the power units different,

the chassis and the aerodynamics are different as well.

And that essentially resets the playing field

and teams deal with this in different ways,

and some do it better than others,

particularly at the start of a regulation cycle.

So what we've seen from two Grand Prix so far

is Mercedes have nailed it.

Ferrari is doing very well.

Right, Lewis Hamilton lap 2 leads the Grand Prix,

the Ferrari starting third, led the first lap on this particular occasion.

Kimi Antonelli is right with him.

Charlotte Clare is right behind Kimi Antonelli.

And George Russell is right behind Charlotte Clare.

It's what you would expect. Ferrari, Mercedes.

Ferrari Mercedes in 2026.

These are the two teams that have seen

to have adjusted to the new regulations the best.

The other teams are sort of working through teething problems.

So it's not panic stations necessarily for McLaren,

but they do have a fair bit of catch up to do it appears.

Can you explain the inherent advantage

Mercedes and Ferrari have on this front?

Mercedes and Ferrari are what we know as works teams.

We're not only do they build their own car,

but they also build the power unit,

which is the combination of the internal combustion engine

and the battery electrical power.

So they get to build a power unit

and essentially build their car around the power unit,

whereas a lot of the other customer teams

who buy engines from power unit manufacturers,

they have to work their car around the power unit,

if that makes sense.

So Mercedes and Ferrari,

they get to know the concept of what they're trying to achieve

with these power units.

So in the short term,

I definitely see it as an advantage to be a works team,

but it doesn't always work like that.

Red Bull is now a works team,

but this is the first time they've ever built a power unit.

Audi is a works team.

It's the first time they've ever built a Formula One power unit.

So while there is advantages to it, it's still hard.

From the lens of an Australian fan,

I'm drawn to the ramifications for Oscar Piastry.

Is he now basically looking at a year of borderline relevance?

You know, best case.

The odd win may be a podium here or there.

Like what does it look like for Oscar Piastry?

I promise you, Stakey, there's nothing irrelevant

about being a Formula One driver.

You've seen the documentaries.

There are cameras on these people forever.

But it doesn't look like at this moment

that McLaren are going to be consistently fighting for wins.

They look to have the third quickest car on the grid.

There's certainly a step behind the Mercedes

and they appear to be a step behind the Ferrari as well.

So, yeah, there's a lot of learning that's got to come from this.

But remember, McLaren were several steps behind

during the last regulation cycle.

But as the years went on as 2023 rolled into 2024,

they got quicker and quicker and better and better.

And then that led to back-to-back constructors world titles

and Lando Norris last year winning his first driver's world championship.

So, if there is a team on the grid

that I would feel comfortable at the moment

being able to make progress over this year,

it is the papaya team.

The countdown is on for the Japanese Grand Prix.

We are two weeks away from that particular fixture

to hope and the expectation from McLaren

is that they'll at least be able to start a race by that point.

I'm intrigued with what you've been saying

about the Mercedes power units in the McLaren car

and the fact that that's not working.

It's obviously a concern for McLaren.

But is it also a bit of a headache for Mercedes

given they've got the same power unit?

Yeah, 100%.

So, McLaren are a customer of Mercedes

and they purchase power units from them.

And there are people who are part of the Mercedes HPP,

the high performance powertrain team,

who are secondored to the McLaren team

and they're also ones who are secondored to Alpine

and Williams as well.

So, they were working feverishly in China

to try and fix whatever electrical problem

was in both Lando Norris and Oscar Piaftry's car.

Unsuccessfully to get him out on track.

Both McLaren's, here's Oscar Piaftry,

so both drivers still in the car

but seems to look a bit calmer

on Lando Norris' side of the car

as such disappointment so early on for McLaren.

Now, particularly for Mercedes

who have the best car

or the quickest car on the grid at the moment,

they'll want to understand what happened

with their engine in the McLaren

and ensure that gets fixed

because they certainly don't want that happening

to any of the engines that they are using

for future Grand Prix.

There's also been two races called off

in the Middle East as war continues to sort of wreak havoc

on a whole number of levels.

Will that chunk of time be pretty helpful

and almost crucial to the papaya team's chances

of doing something super meaningful this year?

You know, it can go both ways.

So, you have now this five-week block

where the best minds in your team

can just focus on upgrades

and making tweaks to the car.

So that, in a sense, this break has that advantage

but what you lose is now truck time.

You're now losing two weekends

of putting your car on track

to actually learn about how your car works.

Learn if your aerodynamics are as good

as they could be or making tweaks.

So, I'm interested to see how all the teams

use this period of time

that they weren't expecting to get

where if they are able to take advantage of it

and have their best minds just focusing on upgrading

the car without needing to send anything off

for a race weekend,

or if it actually prolongs development

because they've now got two less weekends

to put their car on the track.

As you called out at the start of this conversation,

this has been driven by the new regulations,

this disruption.

And for me, the ones way bigger than McLaren

obviously is an Australian sports media

you know, we're drawn to the stories

coming out of the papaya team.

Max Verstappen's been a very big critic at times.

I found a cheaper solution.

I swapped a simulator for my Nintendo Switch

and yeah, practicing a bit of Mario Kart actually.

Yeah, finding the mushrooms is going quite well.

The blue shell is a bit more difficult

but I'm working on it.

Aston Martin looks a mess, Williams is out issues.

Can you tell us whether Formula One

as a sort of sport and entity

has made racing better with this overall reset?

So we've got a very small sample size.

We have two grown pre and a spring race.

And so far you can see the pros and cons

of the new regulations that they have.

There are a lot of drivers who don't like it

because with the new power unit

that is starved of electrical energy

they spend so much of their time harvesting their battery.

So that sort of stops them from being able

to just drive flat out, which every driver wants to do.

But Russell, on this occasion,

just has to sit behind and be a bit more patient.

You can see on the graphic at the bottom of the screen there

he was on the boost button

and he's got overtake available

but he had no battery left.

So there's no point being on the boost button

with 0% left in your battery.

However, the product on television

and at the track has been quite exciting.

That's for George. Here comes George Russell.

What a boost!

Down to the first part of the straight from George Russell.

He pressed the magic button there

and the car said, let's go!

Cars are able to follow each other more closely

because the changes in the aerodynamic regulations

have meant that the dirty air coming off the back of the cars

isn't as significant as it has been in previous years.

We're not just seeing great battles for the lead up the front.

In China, the two Haas and Alpine drivers

were having a terrific race-long battle

for the last places of the top 10,

which was so good that the television broadcast

was actually taking eyes off what Ferrari and Mercedes

were doing for a period of time.

To see a right-old tussle into the hairpin,

two Alpines, two Haases.

On the ends, inside of this corner,

a head of Esteban Ocon

and behind these two,

Oli Behrmann, a head of Pierre Gasly.

Definitely fighting the Haases today

for the Alpines and what a race it is.

As a viewing spectacle with a small sample size,

thus far it's been a little bit of a win

and I think I speak on behalf of everybody

that hopes it continues.

You can catch Mick Doyle's coverage

on the ABC Sport website.

Mick, we are counting down the days two weeks

or a little under to the Japanese Grand Prix.

We're going to be fascinating to see what happens

from McLaren and the broader field in general.

Appreciate your time.

I'm already looking forward to it.

Thanks, tacky.

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This included use of a prohibited method

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On Patrick Stack,

this is ABC Sport Daily produced by Poppy Penny.

Thanks to Sky Sport, Fox Sports and Channel 9

for the extra audio used in this episode.