The FIA’s single-seater director, Nikolas Tombazis, has issued an apology after multiple Formula 1 cars stopped on track during the formation lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Sepang’s first hosting of a Grand Prix in nine years brought the usual chaos that the circuit was often known for during its regular tenure on the schedule.
Heavy rainfall saw the original 3pm local lights out tme put back by one hour, as the weather began to decrease.
But the temperate conditions saw cars take the formation lap slower than usual, and a multitude of cars, including Lewis Hamilton, ground to a halt, the Brit being told a “software issue” was responsible.
With other Ferrari-powered machines, plus both Audis and Liam Lawson, beginning to slow, the race start procedure was scrapped, and cars returned to the pits.
After a further 40-minute delay, in which many speculated the reason for the lack of action, racing finally began, with the race – won by Max Verstappen – finishing over three hours after the scheduled start time.
After the race, the FIA issued a statement to explain the unusual scenario.
“On the formation lap ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, an unprecedented combination of low engine speed, low-grip conditions, wet-weather energy management settings and the Sepang circuit’s sector configuration led to an unintended loss of power for a number of cars,” it read.
As a result, the FIA Technical Department removed the energy limit constraint in the affected sectors through an updated software release distributed to all competitors during the race delay caused by heavy rain enabling teams to make the necessary changes to the Power Unit before the start of the race.
This issue had not been detected by the FIA or the teams during testing or during the laps to the grid. The FIA, together with the teams and Power Unit manufacturers, will undertake a full review of the issue.”
Hamilton stops and gets going again, Lawson stranded on the grid, all Ferrari-powered cars report issues, Verstappen briefly reports an issue, both Audis stop out on track. Start procedure halted. Anyone else confused? #F1 #BahrainGP https://t.co/AiT8f1SZKG
— Motorsport Week (@MotorsportWeek) October 4, 2026
Tombazis apologises but praises ‘fast reaction’ from FIA
Speaking to media, including Motorsport Week, after the race, Tombazis conceded the mistake, but believes the speed in which the issue was rectified was impressive, given the unique nature of it.
“There was a bit of a concertina effect between cars, and some cars almost stopped completely,” he said. “That bug prevented the power from being redeployed and for the cars to start again.
“If we had had a bit more testing, we probably would have managed to catch it in time, and not to have such a situation.
“Once the problem happened, our guys realised very quickly what was happening and had to work under a lot of time pressure for an update to the software, which was issued to the teams, and the teams had to install it on their cars. So all of that took about 20 minutes.
“It may have felt like five hours for spectators waiting for a race and for everybody else, which is understandable.
“We are sorry about that, but I think it was quite a fast reaction given the problem.”
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