The Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia has been red-flagged after several cars suffered power unit gremlins during a wet set of formation laps.
After a heavy tropical thunderstorm, the action at Malaysian Sepang was set to get underway with a number of laps behind the safety car followed by a standing start.
But ahead of F1's first-ever wet event under the 2026 regulations, a number of cars suffered power unit gremlins in the rain.
Initially, polesitter Max Verstappen reported a lack of acceleration from his Red Bull before the Dutchman got going again. Soon after, second-placed Lewis Hamilton reported a similar issue on his Ferrari, with the Briton crawling around the first formation lap as the rest of the field passed him. One lap later, Hamilton too managed to get going again.
More cars, including Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto, also appeared to struggle with similar problems, with race control suspending the start procedure and throwing a red flag.
Race control said it will likely re-use the original starting grid order whenever the race resumes.
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- The Autosport.com Team
Source: Autosport