Charles Leclerc explains why Bahrain GP chaos has reinforced F1 driver fears

It came as no surprise to us all that our favourite drivers weren’t at all happy with what happened in the lead-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc said that this was just one example of why he and his fellow drivers are worried about the current regulation cars.

What started as a soggy formation lap turned into chaos as software issues caused the cars to start losing power. Several cars were reduced to expensive paperweights as their drivers fought against an unresponsive throttle pedal.

Following the race in Malaysia, the Monegasque explained what happened from behind the wheel of the #16 Ferrari.

“Very tricky, very strange,” he told reporters. “At first I thought that safety car had switched off the light. I couldn’t see the safety car. I was too far and there was too much spray so I thought the safety car had gone and Max was taking the gap to warm up the tyres, which I was like, ‘OK fine,’ and then they told me on the radio, ‘we think Max has a problem.’ I was like, OK.

“Then Max went, then Lewis was slow. 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.

“So, I don’t know. It’s a little bit scary to see that on a Formula 1 car.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT images via Getty Images

The reasoning became clear when FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis explained that a “bug prevented the power to be redeployed and for the cars to start again” when they had slowed down. He added: “It was mainly in some sectors the full power is reduced. And the triggering factor was some cars reaching a very low speed. I don’t know exactly what speed that was, but some cars reaching this 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.”

Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton, for example, had to shut his engine off and restart it entirely just to get moving again.

Charles Leclerc’s main worry stems from this lack of control

How these 2026 regulation powertrains regulate power output has been a concern of many drivers since the beginning, and even before the season started. The lack of control the drivers had over their cars on Sunday has just highlighted the overarching feelings.

“I think that’s a bit our worry with these cars is that, not to that extent of course this was a problem, but whatever you have when you get out of the corner sometimes you can have 100 horsepower more, 100 horsepower less. You are not completely in control of the power you are given. And then, with this kind of visibility like at the start of the race, you can have big shunts because of that. So It’s not the greatest cars to drive in this condition for sure.”

Why there’s no quick fix coming

When Leclerc was asked whether he believed that the weekend was the ultimate confirmation of everything wrong with the current engine formula, he was keen to maintain a level of diplomacy.

“I don’t want to be so extreme with my words, but surely it’s not good enough. I mean, we’ve been raising those issues, and I hope that we fix them. But, unfortunately I don’t think there’s any short-term solutions to these problems. These problems are unfortunately the results of decisions made quite a long time ago and now to revert or to change that it’s going to take time.”

2030 will bring a new era of regulations to F1 and even as soon as next year the balance of power will sway slightly towards the internal combustion engine. While this small change may not completely put to rest the drivers’ worries, the FIA is well aware.

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– The Motorsport.com Team