Browse
Log in / Register
Share
Updated: May 7, 2026
SEPANG, Malaysia — The FIA has promised a full investigation after a software failure threw the Bahrain Grand Prix’s start at Sepang into disarray, leaving Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen among several drivers powerless during a wet formation lap. The episode forced the race start to be aborted and became the latest flashpoint in a difficult first season for Formula One’s new-generation cars and engines.
Verstappen, who would later win the race for Red Bull, said the cars felt as though they were taking part in a “Lego race” held at Silverstone before the British Grand Prix. Hamilton, a seven-time world champion now racing for Ferrari, said he was forced to stop his car on track and restart it in a scenario he had never encountered before in his career.
Drivers had been waiting for a long time before Sunday’s delayed start. Heavy rain had soaked the track, and the field had begun the formation lap under cautious settings, with wet-line visibility poor and no real chance to build speed.
That was when the glitch appeared. Several cars lost drive at almost the same point of the lap. Hamilton pulled over and reset his car. Others slowed to walking pace, causing a ripple effect through the field. The start was aborted, and officials were forced to send the cars back around.
Verstappen’s “Lego race” comparison came from that strange sensation of being on track but unable to use the powerunit normally. In a demo event at Silverstone, drivers are often put in low-power, low-grip conditions to keep speeds down. The feeling at Sepang, he suggested, was uncomfortably similar.
The FIA blamed the problem on an unusual combination of circumstances rather than a single broken part. Low engine speed, poor grip, wet-weather energy management settings, and the layout of Sepang’s long corners are all part of the explanation.
In plain terms, the cars’ energy recovery system was being asked to redeploy stored power at a moment when the software was still acting as if the car was in a safety-critical position. The result was an unintended loss of power in multiple cars.
The governing body said the issue had not been detected by the teams or by the FIA during testing, nor during the out-laps to the grid. It was only during the rain delay that the FIA sent an updated software release to all competitors, easing the energy limit constraint in the affected sectors.
That allowed teams to change power-unit settings before the start was attempted again. The race was not cancelled, and the track began to dry in time for the restart.
Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director, admitted that limited pre-season testing in wet conditions made the situation more difficult.
“Some cars went very slowly, almost came to a standstill. There was a bit of a concertina effect between cars, and some cars almost stopped completely,” Tombazis said. “That bug prevented the power from being redeployed, and for the cars to start again.”
He added: “I think if we had had a bit more testing, we probably would have managed to catch it in time, and not have such a situation.”
The episode is part of a broader pattern of frustration around this year’s power-unit regulations. Since the opening race, drivers have been unhappy with the scale of electrical energy management now required in every lap.
The new engine formula was meant to reduce costs and keep the field closer. In practice, it has added a layer of electronic control that is difficult for drivers to read in the heat of a race.
That complexity has a direct effect on the show. A driver cannot simply push a pedal and expect instant power; the system must first decide whether it is allowed to deploy energy. When the software gets that decision wrong, the driver is left with a machine that behaves almost like a road car in a car wash.
Sepang was the first wet race weekend of the season, and that may be the most important detail. In the dry, this kind of glitch might not happen. Wet conditions force the cars into lower engine speeds and different energy-recovery strategies, creating exactly the kind of edge case that testing had not covered.
The FIA said its review will be carried out with teams and power-unit manufacturers. No timeline has been announced.
One area of focus is likely to be how a similar fault would be handled at a circuit with tighter runoff areas, where a car stopped mid-formation lap could create a much more serious danger. Another is whether the software logic can be adjusted so that the energy-deployment rules adapt more naturally to extreme wet weather.
Tombazis chose to describe the failure as a lesson rather than a crisis.
“Sometimes things fall through the net and people learn, and you do a better job next time,” he said.
For now, the sport has avoided a bigger problem. The race was restarted, Verstappen took the win, and the Sepang crowd saw a full result. But the episode has made one thing clear: the new era of Formula One depends as much on code as it does on aerodynamics.
This article was updated on Wednesday, May 7, 2026, with the latest status of the FIA review.
