Drivers say F1 'needs to look at itself' after Malaysia chaos

Formula 1 drivers have criticised the “horrible” delays to the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as the 2026 cars struggled to race in the rain.

A torrential rain shower meant the start of the race was delayed by 40 minutes, but a subsequent attempt to finally start the race when conditions were better went badly wrong.

Multiple drivers stopped on the formation laps to the grid and the start attempt had to be abandoned due to what appeared to be a software bug.

The race finally got underway around one hour and 40 minutes after the initial start time.

“The whole day felt like a bit of a faff, with the delay and then the red flag and then endless laps under the safety car and then suddenly doing extra laps to allow Checo [Sergio Perez] to overtake, it didn't feel very F1 today,” George Russell said.

“I'd have been a bit disappointed if I was in the stands, watching that unfold, so... that wasn't good.”

Russell added: “The power units are exceptionally complicated. The more complicated you make things, the more there is to go wrong.

“So that is obviously something we need to bear in mind for the future.”

Lando Norris called it “horrible” and said “it just proves that we shouldn't have any of that stuff on the electronic side” in reference to F1 currently having a 53/47 split between internal combustion engine and electrical power.

Cadillac driver Sergio Perez described as if “you were in rental karting and you ran out of time" - and used the words "totally unacceptable for the sport”.

Carlos Sainz said F1 “needs to have a hard look at themselves and see how we ended up in this situation”.

“It is clear the regs are extremely complicated for the drivers, for the teams, for the PUs, for the manufacturers. It is too complicated,” he added.

“Again, my only question mark is who, five years ago, decided that this was the direction to go?

“We are doing the best with what we are given as a sport and as regulations. The FIA and F1 are doing the best they can with what was decided four or five years ago, but clearly what was decided four or five years ago is wrong...

“Not a lot more to say, [we] just learn as a sport not to do those mistakes again and not suffer from the same strange cases.”

Sainz continued: “That is what happens when there is so much software, so much controls involved. If it was a V8 aspirated, it would have never happened.”

Race winner Max Verstappen concurred, saying he hopes there are lessons learned from this, while a baffled Lewis Hamilton said he'd never had to stop and restart an F1 car before.

Oscar Piastri said he'd “never seen an F1 race delayed by a bug. That was a new one” - but warned against pointing fingers before there’s a proper explanation.

“I don't know what it was related to. I don't know if it was to do with the wet weather, the code changes, I don't know if it was to do with the lightning. We heard that a lot of F1 systems and the FIA systems went down with some of the lightning, so I don't know if something kind of got reset,” he said.

“Obviously, it wasn't a great look, but I think it would be unfair to point the finger before there's an explanation.”