The FIA has clarified why F1 cars suffered technical failures before Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
A 40‑minute rain delay pushed the Sepang start back, then a chaotic formation lap left front‑runners Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton with dead throttles, forcing many cars to stop and triggering a red flag.
Sergio Pérez called the episode “unacceptable,” while Lando Norris called it “just horrible,” saying the electronic side shouldn’t fail, especially with cars now running 47% electric power.
FIA single‑seater specialist Nikolas Tombazis said the lack of competitive wet running this season caught the power unit off‑guard at ultra‑low speeds, necessitating a software patch and a 53‑minute pause before the restart.
“We couldn’t test the code as thoroughly as we wanted because wet sessions have been scarce, and a perfect storm of factors triggered the bug,” Tombazis explained.
Nikolas Tombazis, FIA
During the formation lap, several cars crawled almost to a halt, creating a concertina effect; the glitch stopped power redeployment, so the machines couldn’t move again. More testing might have caught it early.
Tombazis praised the FIA’s swift response to resolve the issue; in my view, the body acted admirably.
He added that once the fault appeared, the team quickly identified it and, under tight pressure, issued a software update for the squads to install.
The whole fix took about 20 minutes. It felt like hours to fans waiting, which is understandable, and the FIA apologises, but the reaction was relatively fast.
Not all drivers were angry; Fernando Alonso, who finished eighth for Aston Martin‑Honda, joked, “I’ve had 50 % DNFs this year, yet they never stopped the race for us.”
Sunday photos from the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
Will the FIA prevent this next season?
What would you like to see on?
Take our 5 minute survey.
– The Team