F1 drivers risk harsh penalty for just running wide at Bahrain Grand Prix

Sepang International Circuit — Photo: © IMAGO

Bahrain Grand Prix

F1 drivers risk harsh penalty at Bahrain Grand Prix as FIA confirm decision

Sepang's final corner has a trap

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Friday 2 October 2026 14:54 Updated: 15:12

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Its the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, stick with us though folks as that may not be the weirdest thing about F1 this weekend.

After nine years the popular Sepang circuit, which held the Malaysian Grand Prix annually between 1999 and 2017, is back in town.

It's popular because it's actually an excellent race track which challenges a driver's skill, all aspect of a car's ability, and unlike in Baku last weekend, has tyre wear tests.

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Rain is also always in play at Sepang and that is no different this weekend.

There is however one small change to the track in the years that have passed since Max Verstappen took just his second ever F1 win at the circuit.

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Final corner issues

It's not even the track layout itself, it's to do with the final corner, a tight hairpin following a 200mph straight where drivers have to brake down to around 70mph to be sure to make the tight left corner apex and blast down the following straight.

Get that wrong this year though by perhaps running wide or not braking enough and it could be fatal to a good race result.

The final corner is also the spot where drivers can peel to the right side of the track and enter the pitlane instead of aiming for the left apex.

In the FIA race director's notes 14.2 for the race it is stated that 'For safety reasons, drivers must keep to the right of the solid white line at the pit entry when entering the pits.'

This isn't unusual for a race director's notes, it features at almost every circuit, as does the section 14.3 which reads 'any driver crossing the safety car line 1 to the right hand side of the orange bollard at pit entry (see picture below) will be considered as entering the pit lane.'

Charles Leclerc is forced to avoid the orange bollard (circled) after running wide at the final corner

So, if a driver runs wide at the final corner and passes the bollard on the right side of the circuit that splits the track from the pitlane, they will have to drive down the pitlane instead of just re-joining the track. If not a penalty will likely follow.

Could this happen in a race?

You may ask what the chances of this happening are but a few drivers already did it during practice on Friday, being waved black and white flags as a warning, so it could happen in a race when drivers are fighting for position.

The overall conclusion for this is that if a driver is forced to enter the pitlane just for making a mistake on the final corner, he will be penalised with an effective drive through penalty as he will have to go through the pit-lane at a reduced speed still.

At many other tracks, being able to avoid the pit-lane is a much easier task as it is either not in a racing line, or isn't on the outside of a track, ready for drivers making a mistake to run into.

It may be something the drivers discuss with the race director before the race, with the possibility they will be allowed to take an escape road which leads on to the straight just before the pit-lane entrance.

An alternative idea being to just allow drivers to drive back on track as they will not gain an advantage from doing so.

Either way, surely we can't be going with Plan A of proxy drive-through penalty for innocent mistakes. Gravel traps are enough for this sort of thing.

F1 Bahrain Grand Prix