Max Verstappen said he wants “a lesson learned” after Formula 1 drivers and fans were left waiting for software updates because the cars’ algorithms weren’t able to handle a wet track.
The first attempt to start Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia ended in confusion as cars crawled around the Sepang track at slow speeds or stopped entirely as drivers and teams tried to restart their systems.
There was another delay of almost an hour while, Verstappen said, teams were trying to update the software to handle slippery conditions.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton likened it to gimmicky pre-race exhibitions in Lego cars the drivers have done previously as part of a sponsorship tie-ins.
“It was like the Lego race,” Hamilton said. “Same speed.”
The on-board algorithms that decide how and when to deploy the car’s electrical hybrid power were seemingly thwarted by the drivers using less acceleration than usual to deal with the slippery conditions.
“It’s not what you want in the sport,” said Verstappen, who eventually won. “I hope there is a lesson learned.”
The rain delay becomes the laptop delay
F1 hadn’t raced in the rain all year and fans were keen to see how the drivers and the 2026-specification cars — with a near 50-50 split between engine and battery power — handled the conditions.
The answer: not well.
After an initial delay because of a storm, drivers were meant to do two formation laps behind the safety car to scout out the conditions before getting under way. However, several cars lacked power and some stopped entirely.
“When you go too low in speed… for whatever reason, then it just bogs down,” Verstappen said, recalling the car going at 35 kph (22 mph) and still losing speed on one uphill stretch.
With overtaking not normally allowed on a formation lap, third-place Kimi Antonelli waited behind Lewis Hamilton’s slow-moving Ferrari as the Italian team scrambled to solve a software issue.
“I’m pressing the throttle and nothing’s happening,” Hamilton told Ferrari. He then stopped on track to restart the systems.
With more problems elsewhere in the field, soon cars were scattered all around the Sepang track. The safety car and Verstappen even seemed to lap some of them.
Eventually, the start was suspended again. The mixed-up order meant teams resorted to pushing their cars into the correct sequence in the pit lane.
The delay “was because they had to update the software, and then you have to load it into the car. I guess some had some faster laptops than others,” Verstappen joked. By the time they were done, the track was much drier and there were only a few laps of wet-weather action before a largely dry race.
Software problems have caused disruption before
This was the first wet-weather race of the year but it’s not the first time software has caused headaches this season.
George Russell blamed the code governing the cars’ electrical systems for his lack of pace at the Belgian Grand Prix before crashing out.
F1’s embrace of electrical power for 2026 comes with complex software that governs how and when that power is used.
In most on-track situations, the electrical power isn’t directly related to the driver’s use of the gas pedal. So-called “deployment maps” set out how much energy to release based on where the car is on the track.
When that software becomes confused as to where it is on the circuit, it can waste electrical energy in the wrong place, as happened to Russell in Belgium, or give a jolt of power in a potentially dangerous situation instead.
Oscar Piastri was sent spinning into the wall on the formation lap in the year’s first race in Australia when he got extra power unexpectedly. At last week’s race in Azerbaijan, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas crashed on the last lap and reportedly blamed it on the software becoming confused and affecting his braking.
James Ellingworth, The Associated Press
