{"id":919173,"date":"2026-10-07T08:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919173\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T08:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:10:09","slug":"mclaren-back-f1-over-power-unit-furor-despite-driver-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919173\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren back F1 over power unit furor despite driver backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

McLaren<\/a> boss Andrea Stella believes F1 did an \u201cexcellent job\u201d in recovering from formation lap issues during the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and urged fans and drivers to \u2018accept the glitches\u2019.<\/p>\n

F1 suffered embarrassment as power units failed during wet weather formation laps in Malaysia that triggered a length pre-race delay.<\/p>\n

\u2018Accept the glitches\u2019 \u2013 McLaren boss issues F1 rallying cry<\/p>\n

As rain fell in Malaysia, the formation lap was delayed by 40 minutes. But when the drivers did finally get moving, it was at a far slower pace than expected for many.<\/p>\n

This was due to a software glitch that had not been foreseen by the FIA, the teams, or power unit manufacturers, with the cars entering the same \u2018limp home\u2019 mode that Mercedes, among others, exploited in the early rounds to get an extra power boost on qualifying laps.<\/p>\n

The drivers have been almost unanimous in their criticism of the situation, with reigning champion Lando Norris stating that the incident highlights why F1 \u2018shouldn\u2019t have any\u2019 of the electronic self-learning systems.<\/p>\n

It is expected that the championship could return to far simpler, cheaper, and lighter V8 power units in either 2030 or 2031, but many on social media are clamouring for the change to be brought forward.<\/p>\n

Given incidents of super clipping (which remains, but the television direction has become smarter about avoiding broadcasting), yoyo racing, and the problems in Malaysia, it is easy to understand this stance.<\/p>\n

However, Stella has batted against the prevailing wind, fully backing and even praising the work of F1.<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri vs Lando Norris: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season<\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened at the start obviously is not ideal in terms of presentation of the sport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time is the first year of new regulations, quite complex, from a regulatory point of view, and even if it\u2019s not clear to me yet what the problem actually was, it was also the first time that we started it with some conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think we have to concede that Formula 1has done an excellent job in making some new regulations, and regulations that came with some question marks from a power unit behaviour point of view when it came to racing, for instance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to acknowledge that there\u2019s been really good work to make the show work, to make the racing work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if there are some glitches occasionally, then we have to accept that, you know, there are glitches for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we think for the teams, we have many [glitches]. And if this is about the sport or some common software issues, I think we have to be accepting and be supportive to make sure that it doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as a competitor, I wouldn\u2019t feel comfortable considering that, as a competitor, we have many issues pretty much every weekend, to say that this was not at the right standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when there\u2019s this level of novelty, we can accept that there may be some aspects that need some tuning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next: Lando Norris claims F1 \u2018shouldn\u2019t have any of that stuff\u2019 after electronics play havoc in Malaysia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes F1 did an \u201cexcellent job\u201d in recovering from formation lap issues during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[13273,64,63,197169,817,813,816,818,913,44,85],"class_list":["post-919173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-stella","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bahrain-grand-prix","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-mclaren","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}