SEPANG — McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Formula 1 must avoid a repeat of the crippling software bug that aborted the start of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, but accepts occasional glitches are possible under the current regulations.
The start on the wet Sepang circuit in Malaysia was aborted after a large number of cars suffered the bug on the formation laps, leaving them coasting with no throttle input. Stella said he "accepts" such issues can occur with the complexity of the current regulations, but hoped the FIA could prevent a recurrence.
Stella said F1 must "accept occasional glitches" as an inherent risk of the present technical framework, while stressing the need for safeguards to ensure the Sepang repeat does not happen again. The incident disrupted the opening procedure and forced race control to abort the initial start.
The chaotic start overshadowed the race itself at Sepang, which saw Verstappen's 72nd win at Sepang for Red Bull. McLaren are now looking to the FIA to review the software issue ahead of the next round.