The formation laps at the 2026 F1 Bahrain GP saw the drivers come to a halt and be unable to accelerate. The situation got out of hand, and FIA & F1 had to call off the start procedure. FIA has now come out and explained what led to the absurd formation laps.
The start of the 2026 Bahrain GP at Sepang International Circuit was delayed due to torrential showers. Once the rain subsided, and drivers were finally ready to go, the formation laps saw the cars not being able to accelerate out of corners.
It wasn’t just one car; first it hit Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, then Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and subsequently many cars on the grid. Since it was the first time the new cars were run under wet weather conditions, many, including the drivers and the fans, were caught off guard.
Ferrari then radioed Lewis Hamilton and told him that it was a software glitch. As the FIA abandoned the start, some cars were on the second formation lap, while others were stuck on the first one, and as the cars entered the pits, they were jumbled up with safety cars in between them.
It was then revealed that it was a software glitch, the one that is mandated by the FIA, and the ECUs of all 22 cars were updated. The Director of the FIA, Nikolas Tombazis, explained the same, as he said,
“It Wasn’t the Teams’ Fault. There are special configurations in the software for rain conditions for safety, to prevent power spikes. There was a software error, and that caused some cars, when they were at very low speed, not to be able to accelerate again.”
They were going very slowly, and some almost came to a stop. We had to deploy the red flag. It wasn’t a problem with the teams. We had to make updates to the configurations and the software and give it to the teams; that caused a delay, but we did it very quickly, in just 20 minutes,” he added
Oscar Piastri surprised to see Bahrain GP race start delayed by software bug
Oscar Piastri finished the Bahrain GP in P6, where he started the race. However, it was anything but a regular race, as he was amongst the drivers who started on slick tyres and dropped to the back.
Speaking with the media after the race, Piastri was surprised to see the race start delayed by the software glitch, as he said,
“It was a hell of a lot to finish where I started. Had a bit of everything. Never seen a race start delayed by a bug, it was a new one.”
“Yeah, it was very tricky, the wet conditions were tough. We took a bit of a gamble on slicks and I knew coming out of pits it wasn’t the right call, so I came into the pits and I think the safety car coming out neutralized everyone so didn’t cost us too much. Ultimately weren’t that competitive and was a shame because for the last safety car, I was catch Leclerc very quickly, but didn’t get him,” he added
Max Verstappen won the race, with Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton making up the podium positions.
