Was farcical F1 Malaysia start avoidable?

On the latest episode of The Race F1 Podcast, presented by Atlassian, Edd Straw is joined by Jon Noble and Scott Mitchell-Malm to review the Malaysia-hosted Bahrain Grand Prix. It was a race that'll be remembered for Max Verstappen taking his and Red Bull’s first victory of 2026, but it was also one marred by chaos at the first attempt to start it. So what caused the farcical scenes that played out? That's the key question tackled in part one of the podcast, before Edd, Jon and Scott explain Verstappen and Red Bull's supreme - and somewhat shock - pace this weekend, ask whether Ferrari's tyre blunder cost Lewis Hamilton a shot at victory, and unpack all of the race's other big talking points. 01:04 Intro 04:11 The formation-lap engine glitch explained 18:00 Could this force bigger rule changes? 22:40 Verstappen and Red Bull take their first win 35:04 Mercedes’ pace and upgrade questions 40:20 Russell’s championship chances 42:55 Ferrari’s tyre strategy and recovery 49:05 Was this Hamilton’s best Ferrari drive? 51:33 McLaren’s difficult weekend 54:51 Aston Martin’s best result of the season 58:42 Racing Bulls, Alpine and the midfield 59:12 Bortoleto and Sainz collision 59:41 Could F1 return to Malaysia? Presented by @Atlassian #f1 #f1podcast #formula1 #bahraingp #sepang #ferrari #malaysia #maxverstappen #redbull Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening - sign up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today:   / therace