Angry F1 fans frustrated by ‘unacceptable’ issue during the Bahrain Grand Prix after George Russell problem

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The Bahrain Grand Prix had plenty of twists and turns as Oscar Piastri produced a flawless performance to take his second victory of the season.

He was joined on the podium by his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and Mercedes driver George Russell.

It was a race that looked set to be decided by strategy, with both of Ferrari’s drivers starting on the medium tyres, while all of their rivals were on the soft tyres.

Norris’ starting infringement that was spotted by Max Verstappen put him on the back foot, but he quickly recovered to challenge for a podium finish, even if his teammate comfortably drove off into the distance.

However, a bit of jeopardy was created when Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda made contact at the first corner, and the resulting debris from the Williams car forced the safety car to come out.

All three tyre compounds made an appearance for the final stint, and the fact that there wasn’t a massive difference in their performance by the chequered flag suggests that Pirelli still have work to do to find the right balance during races.

Unfortunately, there was another issue that plagued the Bahrain Grand Prix. After the complaints during the Japanese Grand Prix about overtaking seemed to rear their head again, it was a more technological issue that upset fans on Sunday.

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Formula 1 fans left fuming by timing issue at the Bahrain Grand Prix

It became clear towards the end of the race that something was wrong with Russell’s car as he suddenly fell to P20 on the timing screen.

He was still running second, and this caused the graphics to disappear, and even on the final lap, Verstappen’s move on Pierre Gasly wasn’t picked up until they both crossed the chequered flag.

One F1 fan explained, “So, because of George’s FIA transponder not working and making him being shown as P20, the F1 TV timing tower is currently not being shown – that data is taken directly from the live timing, so if that’s broken, then the timing tower doesn’t work either.”

There were plenty of complaints about what happened, with one fan stating, “Fire the person in charge of the F1 timing tower. Problems almost in every race.”

Another fan said, “F1 has by far the worst broadcasting out of all major sports. How do you even manage to make the live timing disappear for half of the race, every other race?”

One comment read, “F1 needs to fix these timing boards. We’re all paying a crap ton yearly to have no clue in which position everyone is driving. Unacceptable, it’s happened way too many times this season already.”

“What’s wrong with the timing F1?? Same issue in previous races this season,” it was pointed out by another comment.

Another comment read, ”F1 in 2025…. No timing screens again…. That’s 4 out of 5 races that the timing screens have been broken.”

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George Russell explains Mercedes technical issue during the Bahrain Grand Prix

Russell’s car appeared to be the cause of many of the issues, with David Croft and Martin Brundle explaining on commentary that they didn’t have the Brit’s sector timings towards the end of the race.

Norris had to be warned on the team radio to only open his DRS when he was confident that he was within one second of the Mercedes, suggesting that his timing problems weren’t just affecting fans watching the race.

After the race, Russell explained that his DRS very briefly opened at the wrong moment when he pressed the team radio button.

He immediately rectified the error and slowed down to avoid a penalty, but given that this has been a repeated problem, Formula 1 needs to find a solution to these problems, particularly as Alex Albon missed out in qualifying following an error in not spotting Nico Hulkenberg had exceeded track limits with his fastest lap.