SEPANG — The FIA has revealed its findings into the software bug that caused chaos at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, saying a wet-weather power unit map triggered an unintended loss of power. The start of Sunday's race in Malaysia was abandoned and delayed by over an hour and a half while teams installed new software code issued by the governing body.
The FIA said its review concluded that "some cars running on low engine RPM in certain circuit sectors where a 250kW power reduction was applied experienced a loss of power beyond the original intent and that could not be recovered in those sectors." Several cars were seen crawling on formation laps before the start was called off. The incident was slammed by drivers, with Williams' Carlos Sainz saying F1 "needs to have a hard look at" itself.
Ahead of this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, the FIA said the configuration established for the Sepang event will be reinstated for Singapore should similar weather conditions be expected, with a further update to the wet-weather software to be released for the United States Grand Prix on October 25. The review also recommended measures to make testing of the software as robust as possible, with the FIA, teams and Power Unit Manufacturers to strengthen testing and verification capabilities through independent assessment and collaborative feedback, including input from the supplier of the standardized Electronics Control Unit.
The FIA also addressed suggestions the software had not been tested, saying teams and Power Unit manufacturers conducted simulation exercises to validate the package, which was subsequently tested in full-scale running during Free Practice 1 sessions at both the Belgian Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix. The governing body thanked stakeholders for their diligence and responsiveness, saying their collective efforts allowed the race to proceed safely after the issue was identified and resolved. The findings follow Helmut Marko calling the Sepang software failure shameful in the immediate aftermath.