Bahrain’s formation lap went sideways. Cars crawled. Power vanished. Charles Leclerc called it “a little bit scary,” and the FIA later pointed to a software bug that left multiple drivers stuck at roughly 20 kph. The source text also stated that Lewis Hamilton had to shut off and restart his engine to get moving again.
Leclerc’s cockpit account
Leclerc told reporters the scene was “very tricky, very strange.” He said he initially thought the safety car lights were off but “there was too much spray,” adding he then heard on the radio, “we think Max has a problem.”
“Then Max went, then Lewis was slow,” Leclerc said. “And I waited and then at one point I was just like, ‘OK I’m probably just going to go.’ And when I went on throttle I had exactly the same problem and I realized everybody was in the same boat. We were stuck at like 20 kph.” He added: “It’s a little bit scary to see that on a Formula 1 car.”
FIA explains a low‑speed loop
FIA single‑seater director Nikolas Tombazis said “a bug prevented the power to be redeployed and for the cars to start again” after they slowed. He added that in some sectors “the full power is reduced,” and that “some cars reaching a very low speed somehow entered into a loop which meant they couldn’t reaccelerate. And then it looked as if they came to a stop here.”
The bigger worry: power the drivers can’t fully command
Leclerc linked the chaos to a broader concern about the current powertrains. He said that out of corners drivers can sometimes get “100 horsepower more, 100 horsepower less,” and “you are not completely in control of the power you are given.” In low visibility, he warned, “you can have big shunts because of that,” calling these “not the greatest cars to drive in this condition for sure.”
No quick fix, says Leclerc
Asked if the weekend confirmed what’s wrong with the engine formula, Leclerc said he didn’t want “to be so extreme,” but “surely it’s not good enough.” He said drivers have raised these issues and “I hope that we fix them,” while adding he doesn’t think there are “any short‑term solutions” because the problems “are unfortunately the results of decisions made quite a long time ago,” and reversing them “is going to take time.”
The source article also stated that 2030 will bring a new era of regulations and that as soon as next year the balance of power will tilt slightly toward the internal‑combustion engine.
