Why McLaren and Piastri have had disastrous start

0:00A.V.C. Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music, and more. 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.

1:01Mick, 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.

2:03Kimi 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,

3:05if 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.

4:06There'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

5:06given 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

6:06to 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

7:08and 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?

8:10So 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

9:12because 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

10:12on 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. Headlines. Police body cam vision of Hawthorne Pair. Dylan Moore, an iconic Donald, has emerged. The pair got into trouble on the drink for playing around on a CIS lift. One of those mobile platforms you might see in building sites. Here's some of the audio. That means you're under arrest for trespassing. It's not your brother, Rick. So, where you in Lennon? You didn't know this wasn't yours? Yeah. You didn't know this wasn't yours? Well, we saw a random thing. Okay, but you didn't know this wasn't yours. Yeah, we didn't. Okay, so you guys found us. The police officer, with a deep burn, feels like the cover-up of the story has been the biggest crime of all. An unrelated Yan, Adelaide Coach Matthew Nick says Isaac Rankin will come straight back into the crow's side.

11:12For the clash with the dogs, having served his suspension for a homophobic slur back in 2025. Tennis, where a former Australian player and now Coach, Marineco Matosovich, has been handed a four-year ban after breaching anti-doping rules. The 40-year-old was ranked as high as 39 in the world in 2013 since retiring in 2018. He's been coaching and has helped Aussie players, Chris O'Connell and Jordan Thompson. The international tennis integrity agency says Matosovich committed five anti-doping violations between 2018 and 2020. Their statement says, This included use of a prohibited method through blood-doping while an active player and facilitating another player to blood-dote, providing advice to other players on how to avoid positive tests and use and possession of the prohibited substance, clean buterole. There is no suggestion. O'Connell or Thompson have breached any rules. And the Italian baseball team, which has been something of a sporting palette cleanse, has finally come to the end of the line at the World Baseball Classic beaten by Venezuela, 4-2 in the semifinals.

12:12The Venezuelans will play the United States for all the chocolates in the Grand Final. 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.