Stella urges FIA to prevent Sepang software chaos from recurring after Bahrain GP delay

A software failure that forced a 50-minute delay to the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang must not be repeated, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has said, even as he urged the paddock to show understanding for the complexity of Formula 1’s current regulations.

The race start was aborted after a large number of cars suffered a crippling bug that cut throttle input during the formation laps on a wet circuit. The fault was triggered by a combination of compounding factors during what was F1’s first wet-weather race for this generation of power units. FIA engineers coded a hotfix during the stoppage and distributed it to teams before the race could eventually get under way.

Stella, whose McLaren drivers were affected but less severely than some rivals, was measured in his response. “I think we have to concede that Formula 1 has done an excellent job in making the new regulations, with some question marks from a power unit behaviour point of view,” he said. “If there’s some glitches occasionally, then we have to accept that there’s glitches for everyone.”

The McLaren chief also drew a parallel with the technical difficulties teams themselves encounter on race weekends. “As a competitor, I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying that this was not at the right standards, considering that as a competitor we have many issues pretty much every weekend. When there’s this level of novelty, we can accept that there may be some aspects that need some tuning.”

FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis was more direct in his assessment, confirming the specific fault that struck Sepang has been identified and closed off. “Obviously, that was a major criticality, and we need to make sure we avoid it,” Tombazis said. “This specific problem — yes, I can guarantee it will not happen again. A problem in general — no. But we will do our best to avoid it, of course.”

The delay was widely regarded as a significant embarrassment for the sport, even though the race itself delivered an entertaining mixed-weather contest once it finally began. With the new power unit regulations still in their infancy, the incident has raised questions about the robustness of shared software systems when conditions deviate from the norm — a scenario that, on a calendar spanning circuits from Singapore to Interlagos, is far from unlikely to recur.