SEPANG — Former Red Bull Racing adviser Helmut Marko has branded Formula 1's catastrophic software failure at the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix in Sepang, Malaysia, as "shameful" after a grid-wide power loss stopped the field on the formation lap.
The bug struck the automated wet-weather energy management code that governs the new 2026 regulations, triggering an unintended, massive loss of power across the entire field under torrential rain. Reigning 2025 champion Lando Norris criticised the electronic interference as "horrible", while Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were left stranded as their power units were crippled, forcing the FIA to distribute an emergency software patch under red-flag conditions to remove the energy limit constraints and get the race started.
Watching from home, Marko told Austrian publication oe24 he followed the chaos as a normal viewer. "Completely relaxed in front of the television, like a normal Formula 1 consumer," he said. "I dismantled the additional screens I had set up after the first grand prix. What I see on television is enough for me now, although the waiting was really boring because of the long rain delay."
Marko accepted the lengthy weather delay but said a coding error halting an elite series was unacceptable. "It's shameful that a high-end product like Formula 1 is stopped by a software problem," he said. The failure has spotlighted the fragility of the 2026 package, which demands extensive background coding to manage the controversial 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine and the electrical battery, alongside active aerodynamics with straight mode and corner mode and a new 350kW electrical limit that has tripled output compared to previous generations.
Formula 1 executives are now under intense pressure to ensure the ambitious power unit concept does not trigger another digital blackout on race day. The fallout follows Stella's warning that F1 must avoid a Sepang repeat but accept glitches as teams adapt to the complex new systems.