Formula One has gone to no little pains this season in insisting the new format is more popular than ever, despite overwhelming disapproval from the drivers regarding engine regulations. In short, there is nothing to see here.
But the farcical scenes that accompanied the opening to the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday were all too visible and left some drivers expressing open mockery.
Max Verstappen won the race, held at Sepang to replace the cancelled Bahrain GP. It was a dominant drive for his first win of the season, but overshadowed by the sport – that styles itself as the pinnacle of motor racing – looking at best amateurish and at worst incompetent.
The race was delayed because of heavy rain and the track was still very wet as the field lined up for the first time this season in such conditions. They ran behind the safety car to conduct two formation laps before the proposed start.
As they toured round at low speed in low-grip conditions, the engines’ software, now an integral part of the application of power in engines using an almost equal split of electrical and combustion energy, found itself in a scenario beyond its parameters. Chaos ensued. First, Verstappen announced he could no longer accelerate, then Lewis Hamilton slowed and came to a stop before having to do a forced reboot of his car to get moving again. A number of drivers reported the same problem as they crawled around and one Haas and one Cadillac ground to a halt. The field was in disarray and the start had to be suspended.
The problem was caused by a combination of low engine speeds, low grip and the circuit layout coming up against the wet-weather management of the power-delivery software. An unanticipated bug, as the governing body, the FIA, described it. There was a 53-minute delay while the FIA wrote and applied a software update. Verstappen and Hamilton mockingly compared it to the time they had driven in Lego cars as part of the pre-race entertainment at Silverstone in July.
“These engines are so complicated and a lot of software is implemented,” said Verstappen. “When there is some kind of error or glitch, that’s the problem. I triggered it first, then I look in my mirror and I just see everyone … I was, like, wait, are they waiting for me?”
“It was like the Lego race,” said Hamilton. “Yeah, we had the same speed,” said Verstappen. Both drivers were, by now, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
The FIA said it will conduct a review with the teams and the power-unit manufacturers, but the damage has been done, once more highlighting the foibles of these engines and how much has been taken out of drivers’ control.
The debate on the engines has raged all season. Addressing questions about why, for example, battery-usage data was not part of F1’s broadcasts, amid accusations it would demonstrate how hamstrung drivers were by battery management, F1’s chief executive Stefano Domenicali cited a conversation about the sport’s accessibility with the Star Wars creator George Lucas, himself a noted car enthusiast.
“He gave us an incredible chance to see how we can really simplify things because the new fans are not understanding … what is behind the scenes. They are fascinated on the fact there is a lot of action.”
F1 clearly believes the force is strong with its product the way it is and will doubtless point to the fact that when the race did eventually get under way it was an entertaining affair.
Hamilton came back from dropping to 17th to third place, Verstappen was at his imperious best out front, while George Russell’s dramatic late retirement all but put paid to his title hopes.
Yet even the new fans cannot fail to have observed the reality that was laid bare in Sepang: drivers reduced to furiously pushing buttons on a steering wheel, hostages to software over which they have no control, then deriding and condemning the situation afterwards.
Moreover, F1 might also consider it dodged a bullet. Had the race started in the dry and then a downpour arrived, the failure would have happened as the cars circulated mid-race behind the safety car.
The finger should not be simply pointed at the FIA. These rules were agreed with full input from F1, the teams and the power unit manufacturers.
As Carlos Sainz perceptively asked: “My only question is who, five years ago, decided this was the direction to go?”
No quick fix is coming, but what happened in Sepang emphasised how misconceived these regulations were, regardless of how they are perceived by fans of every persuasion.
