Mercedes attempted to poke fun at Ferrari during the chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, only for the social-media post to be challenged by Formula 1 fans and subsequently deleted. The episode then took another ironic turn late in the race when George Russell suffered a power unit failure and retired, helping former Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secure a podium for Ferrari.
The already extraordinary Sunday in Malaysia had begun with torrential rain, forcing the start to be delayed by more than half an hour and creating major uncertainty over tyre choices. The situation became even more complicated during the formation lap when software problems affected several 2026 power units, adding another layer of chaos to the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang.
Sepang chaos as power unit software problems emerge
Max Verstappen was the first driver to experience accelerator problems, although the Red Bull driver managed to resolve the issue within a few seconds with assistance from Gianpiero Lambiase on the pit wall.
Things went much worse for Lewis Hamilton. For more than a minute, the Ferrari driver repeatedly pressed the accelerator while waiting for power from his engine, but eventually had to stop at the side of the circuit. He was only able to get going again after carrying out what was effectively the most familiar of electronic solutions: switching the system off and resetting it before restarting.
Mercedes mocks Ferrari before fans challenge the claim
It was an extraordinary situation, and certainly one rarely, if ever, seen in Formula 1. Mercedes responded by posting a sarcastic message on X, formerly Twitter.
“The start procedure has been suspended because several Ferrari-powered cars have stopped at the side of the track,” the official Mercedes account wrote, accompanying the post with an upside-down smiling face, an emoji frequently used to convey irony.
The message was quickly challenged by Formula 1 fans as misleading. X allows users to add contextual information and cite additional sources when they believe a post requires clarification, and that is precisely what happened to the Mercedes message.
“The suspension of the race is the result of a widespread power and software issue that affected cars from several teams and manufacturers, including Red Bull and McLaren, during the formation lap, and not only teams using Ferrari power units,” the reader-suggested contextual information on X stated.
What caused the Sepang power unit software problem?
Information emerging from the Sepang paddock during the day indicated that the issue was caused by the unusually low speed at which the formation lap was completed. In simple terms, some of the power units’ electronic systems appeared to encounter unexpected behaviour because the cars were circulating far more slowly than under normal conditions in the rain.
As the users who challenged the Mercedes post pointed out, the problem was therefore not limited to Ferrari engines. It was nevertheless true that three drivers using Maranello power units – Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas – had to stop their cars and reset the system before continuing.
The unusual sequence adds another reliability dimension to the new-generation Formula 1 machinery, with retirements and technical failures across the season also tracked in the F1 Reliability & DNF Statistics.
George Russell failure adds an ironic final twist
Mercedes later deleted the post, which is no longer available. The joke did not prove particularly fortunate for the Brackley team either.
George Russell subsequently suffered a power unit failure and retired from the Grand Prix. His retirement ultimately handed the podium position to Lewis Hamilton, the former Mercedes driver now racing for Ferrari, providing an awkward final twist to a social-media exchange that had begun with Mercedes mocking the Scuderia’s problems.
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