The pinnacle of technology: Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris also had issues with the transponder. Multiple teams, including Ferrari and McLaren, faced transponder issues during the Bahrain GP.

In the final laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix, George Russell experienced a series of technical problems with the brake-by-wire system, a steering wheel that shut off, a non-functioning DRS, a control unit not displaying data, and a completely dead transponder (all issues being interconnected). Despite this, the Briton managed to manage his soft tyres until the end, securing a provisional second place. However, Mercedes will be investigated after the race because the driver opened the DRS at a time when he wasn’t allowed to; there’s a chance he might get away with it, as the activation of the rear wing is also regulated by external systems under the FIA’s control.

Backing Toto Wolff’s team is the fact that other teams also suffered from transponder issues and couldn’t accurately calculate the gap to their rivals. First among them was Lando Norris, who was chasing Russell, and whose engineer told him: “Be careful when activating DRS, only do it when you’re sure you’re under one second.” This was because the engineers couldn’t trust the data they were receiving. Ferrari faced the same difficulty, especially with car number 16. Bryan Bozzi gave his driver some suggestions, to which the latter snapped: “What the hell did you make me press? I’m showing I can always activate DRS.” “Transponder issues. You can only use it when I tell you,” the engineer explained. At the moment, there are no official explanations, and we are still awaiting the stewards’ decision regarding George Russell.