McLaren reliability woes strike with early Bahrain retirement

Sam Hall
Sunday 5 March 2023 15:49 - Updated: 15:50

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has revealed what he believes caused rookie driver Oscar Piastri's Bahrain Grand Prix retirement.

McLaren has endured a dreadful opening weekend to the 2023 F1 season with Lando Norris' Q2 appearance on Saturday the only bright moment.

The bleak picture continued during Sunday's race with Piastri lasting until only the 14th lap before returning to the pits with what he reported to be a gearbox issue.

McLaren indicated to the Australian that the would change his steering wheel in order to fix the problem, but this ultimately failed to yield results.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Brown said: "It looks like he had some sort of electrical issue after he reported he had a gearbox-related issue on track which I think was electronics related.

"We changed steering wheels but that doesn't seem to have done the trick so we'll have to diagnose what that is."

Norris woe continues

Norris continued to lap towards the rear of the pack after also suffering issues of his own – the Briton forced to stop twice in the early stages with a pneumatic problem.

Asked about the Briton's troubles, Brown added: "The pneumatic issue so we're monitoring that. We might have to do that again so it's a challenging start to the year."

READ MORE: Follow Bahrain GP LIVE – Updates from 2023 season opener