FIA explains the reasons behind the F1 cars halting during the rain at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia.
The FIA has provided an explanation for the technical difficulties faced by Formula 1 cars prior to Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The Sepang race start was postponed by 40 minutes due to heavy rain; subsequently, a tumultuous formation lap led to front-row competitors Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton experiencing a malfunction that rendered throttle control ineffective, causing multiple cars to come to a halt. The red flag was displayed.
The situation was described as “unacceptable” by Sergio Perez, while Lando Norris called it “just horrible,” asserting that “we shouldn't have any of that stuff, the electronic side,” as this was associated with Formula 1’s new technology, which includes 47% electrical power.
FIA single-seater Nikolas Tombazis has clarified that F1 had not engaged in competitive running in genuine wet conditions this season, which led to the power unit's unexpected response to cars traveling extremely slowly at that moment. Consequently, a software update was necessary, resulting in a 53-minute delay before the race could resume.
“We didn't get to test the software as thoroughly as we would have preferred, due to the minimal wet running this year, and there was a combination of factors that triggered this bug,” Tombazis explained.
Nikolas Tombazis, FIA
Tombazis commended the FIA’s prompt response to rectify the issue as quickly as possible.
“Once the problem arose, our team quickly understood what was happening and had to work under considerable time pressure to deliver a software update, which was provided to the teams for installation on their cars,” he noted.
“All of that took about 20 minutes. It may have felt like five hours for spectators awaiting the race and everyone else, which is understandable, and we apologize for that. However, I think it was a relatively swift reaction given the circumstances.”
Not everyone was dismayed by the technical difficulties, as eighth-placed Fernando Alonso humorously remarked at the end of an unexpectedly strong day for Aston Martin-Honda: “I had 50% DNFs this year, they never stopped the race for us.”
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