Deja Vu hit today in Barcelona, as McLaren was once again weighed down by electrical and battery problems. After weather prevented most of last week’s testing, today’s weather in Spain provided most of the teams a change to really let their cars out. However, there was one holdout: McLaren. Stoffel Vandoorne was the only McLaren driver to drive today, and was only able to complete a few laps.

While competition is heating up between Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes, it seems McLaren is still tripping over their own feet. Their transition into Renault power units this season was seen as a good step, considering Renault powers Red Bull, who have been quite competitive lately. To salt the wound even more, it seems Torro Rosso, now sporting Honda power units, are doing quite well. Rookie Pierre Gasly set the 5th fastest lap in practice today, and Torro Rosso team boss James Key is optimistic about their future with the Japanese automaker, despite their reputation.

This begs the question: what the hell are McLaren doing? While it is still too early to tell if this will be a repeat of the last three seasons, early electrical issues are not a good sign. Now they can’t even blame Honda. Maybe McLaren just haven’t got this whole hybrid thing figured out. We’ll just have to wait and see if Torro Rosso runs into the same problem with the Honda power units, or if any other Renault powered teams will have the same issues going forward.