Verstappen wins chaotic 'Lego race' Bahrain GP at Sepang after software bug wrecks start
Chaos before the start: 'It was like the Lego race'
Max Verstappen won the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia in the most chaotic circumstances imaginable, after a software bug turned the start into what he and Lewis Hamilton called "the Lego race".
A tropical downpour at Sepang delayed attempts to get the grand prix under way for the best part of an hour. And when the cars set off on formation laps behind a safety car to test the conditions, audiences were treated to the bizarre sight of many of them struggling to move — including the cars of the two multiple world champions who were sharing the front row of the grid.
The culprit was a bug in the software that mandates how the engines' electrical power can be used in wet conditions, triggered by a combination of low engine speeds, low grip and specific aspects of the circuit layout. The race ultimately started an hour and a half late following the rain and computation delays.
"These engines are so complicated and a lot of software is implemented," Verstappen said after the race. "I triggered [the problem] first and then I looked in my mirror, I was like, 'Wait, are they waiting for me or what's going [on]...?' It was like the Lego race."
Verstappen was referring to a show run in battery-powered Lego F1 cars that was held before the British Grand Prix in July. Hamilton, who finished third and sat beside Verstappen in the post-race news conference, interjected: "Yeah, we had the same speed. I had to stop on track and stop the car and engine and restart it. I've never done that before."
"It was insane. Like, it's the Lego power," Verstappen added. "At some point we were five-wide on the straight because we couldn't understand what was going on. Then we did a lap and then I see eight other cars crawling still, and I saw you [Hamilton] by yourself crawling. That's not what you want, right, for the sport."
Mercedes driver George Russell, who retired from the race with an engine failure, said simply: "It didn't feel very F1."
FIA promises full investigation into 'major criticality'
Nikolas Tombazis, the single-seater director for governing body the FIA, said there would be a full investigation. The issue arose, he added, because while the software had been tested, it had not been tested in these specific conditions — largely because there has been so little running in the wet this year.
"Cars are complicated," Tombazis said. "We would all like it to be simpler, but when you have electrical energy and combustion energy all working together, and obviously when you want to ensure that there's sporting fairness between the teams, that is complicated."
"We haven't done a full debrief of the situation and see how we can avoid such an issue. Every race, we have a long debrief afterwards, where we identify criticalities. Obviously, that was a major criticality, and we need to make sure we avoid it. Can I guarantee it will never happen again? This specific problem, yes. A problem, no, but we will do our best to avoid it, of course."
This is far from the first issue created by the huge complexity of the latest hybrid engines introduced this year, with their near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power. Because the engines are fundamentally energy-starved, and so cannot deploy their full combined power output at all times, a series of complexities were added into the management of the engines. Many of these led to the counter-intuitive driving about which many of the sport's stars have been complaining all season — and more changes have been added since. Off-track conversation has been dominated by the subject all year, and rules are changing for next year to alter the energy split to try to ameliorate the issue.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella urged perspective: "What happened at the start obviously is not ideal in terms of presentation of the sport. But at the same time it is the first year of new regulations, quite complex from a regulatory point of view, and it was also the first time we started in such conditions. So we have to concede that F1 has done an excellent job in making some new regulations... We have to acknowledge there has been really good work to make the show and racing work, and if there are some glitches occasionally, we have to accept they are glitches for everyone, be supportive and make sure it doesn't happen again."
The jumbled grid that wasn't
The bug had a secondary consequence: the field order was jumbled up, and one reading of the rules could have meant the grid order should change for any restart. But while the FIA's software engineers were rewriting the code as fast as possible, it was determined that — as this situation had never occurred before, and as the problem was out of any competitor's control — the most appropriate order was to revert to the original grid.
"If you think of the millions of people watching around the world, they tune in for the start and suddenly the cars are all in a jumbled up order because of something that happened 40 minutes earlier and it was behind a safety car on a formation lap," said Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord. "That would have been a much harder thing to explain than resetting and then going from where we did."
Verstappen's 'amazing' win crowns Red Bull comeback
"Amazing" was the word Verstappen chose to describe his and Red Bull's first win of the 2026 season at a chaotic, bizarre and, in some ways, unprecedented race. It would be wrong to say the victory was a complete surprise — it came after three consecutive podium finishes in which the four-time champion appeared to be edging closer and closer to such an achievement — but it adds a fresh twist to a season of fluctuating fortunes at the front as the championship heads into its final stretch.
It was Verstappen's 72nd victory, and it came in a manner entirely familiar to those who have followed his career but entirely unfamiliar to this season. The Dutchman was the man all weekend at Sepang, where he also won the last time the track held a race in 2017; as early as Friday afternoon his rivals were all saying he was going to be difficult to beat. He duly delivered a dominant win that barely looked in doubt even through the chaos of a delayed start, the software glitches that wreaked havoc for him and several other drivers on the formation lap, the loss of the lead to the two Mercedes off the line and a late safety car period.
What was remarkable is that until Malaysia, Verstappen had not once this season been in this position. Red Bull started the year in a bit of a state — the fourth-fastest car among the big four teams, with debate at times in the early races about whether it was even better than the car of their junior team, Racing Bulls. All year, Verstappen has battled an inconsistent handling balance, and there was doubt for some time as to whether he would even stay at Red Bull beyond this year. Although contracted until the end of 2028, it was widely known there were performance-related clauses in his contract that allowed him to leave, and McLaren courted him in the summer.
In the end, Verstappen decided to stay, saying he liked the environment at Red Bull, had faith they would return to the front, and did not mind a bit of extra work helping them do it — sentiments he expressed in an interview at the Italian Grand Prix a month ago. He finished third that weekend, and even that recently there was no indication a performance such as this was in the offing. But a trickle of upgrades in recent rounds has accompanied Red Bull's return to the front at exactly the right time.
The only real constant at the front this season has been championship leader Kimi Antonelli, and Verstappen's win ensures the title fight goes into the closing stretch wide open. Attention now turns to this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, the last Sprint weekend of the season.
The Bahrain Grand Prix was moved to the Sepang International Circuit after conflict in the Middle East forced Sakhir off the calendar, marking Formula 1's first race in Malaysia since 2017.