FIA to Investigate Software Glitch That Stopped F1 Cars on the Formation Lap in Malaysia

The FIA has promised a full investigation into a software bug that cut power to several Formula 1 cars on the formation lap of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, held at Sepang. Max Verstappen slowed dramatically at the front, Lewis Hamilton crawled to a halt and had to stop and restart his car on track for the first time in his career, and the start was abandoned while officials pushed a software update to every team, Reuters reports. Verstappen went on to win the race, but the result is not the story anyone is telling.

What happened on the formation lap?

Heavy rain had already delayed the original start by 40 minutes before the field took to the track behind the safety car on intermediate tyres, RACER reports. Halfway through the opening lap Verstappen slowed dramatically, Hamilton ground to a halt before the final corner, and multiple other cars slowed or stopped.

Charles Leclerc, running fourth, described realising mid-lap that everyone had the same problem and the field was stuck at 20kph, Sky Sports reports. Kimi Antonelli said the cars were at one point five-wide on the straight because nobody understood what was happening. The start procedure was abandoned, a red flag situation rather than a normal formation lap, and the race eventually began with the original grid order, almost an hour after the chaos on Sky Sports’ timing and over 90 minutes behind schedule in total, ESPN reports.

What caused the cars to lose power?

A software interaction nobody had tested for. The FIA said “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.”

Sky Sports analyst Anthony Davidson explained the chain: at low speed the turbo spools down because the cars no longer have an MGU-H, the battery drains trying to meet torque demand on intermediate tyres, and the car falls outside the FIA’s energy regulations and cannot reaccelerate. FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis told reporters the bug “prevented the power from being redeployed,” Reuters reports, and admitted a lack of wet pre-season testing let it slip through.

How did the FIA fix it during the delay?

By patching the whole grid. The FIA technical department removed the energy limit constraint in the affected sectors through an updated software release distributed to all competitors during the rain delay, enabling teams to change the power unit settings before the start.

Tombazis told SiriusXM that the update was issued within a few minutes of the problem being understood, but installing it on every car and verifying each one cost about 20 to 25 minutes, RACER reports. He also conceded that every checker missed the bug beforehand: the FIA, the teams, the power unit manufacturers and the official ECU provider all failed to spot it in testing.

What did the drivers say afterwards?

They laughed about it, then stopped laughing. In the press conference, Verstappen, Hamilton and championship leader Antonelli joked it felt “like the Lego race,” a reference to the drivers’ parade in Lego cars at Silverstone, Sky Sports reports. Hamilton added: “I had to stop on track and stop the car and engine and restart it. I’ve never done that before.” Verstappen concluded: “That’s not what you want for the sport and I hope there is a lesson learned.”

The sharper verdicts came elsewhere. Reigning champion Lando Norris called the experience “horrible” and said it proves the electronics should not work this way, while Lance Stroll said the field should have been out racing on wet tyres instead of fixing software, ESPN reports. Drivers had already criticised the 2026 power units, which are almost 50 percent electric, since the opening race of the season, Reuters reports.

What happens next for the FIA and the teams?

A full review, on a short clock. The FIA said it will review the issue together with the teams and power unit manufacturers, and Tombazis accepted that “sometimes things fall through the net,” Reuters reports.

The test comes immediately: Formula 1 heads to Singapore next for the final Sprint weekend of the season, with track action starting Friday, Sky Sports reports. One wet session there and the same software, minus one energy constraint, is back under examination. Sepang was the first wet weekend of the year; the sport now knows what its new cars do in the rain, and so does everyone who watched them stop.