Lights Out… But Wait: F1 Adds Five-Second Grid Pause Before Race Starts - Report

Last Updated:March 05, 2026, 19:11 IST

At the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA will add a five-second ‘pre-start’ delay for drivers at the back to fire up new power units.

Formula 1 is adding a small pause before the chaos.

At the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA will introduce a five-second ‘pre-start’ delay to give drivers at the back of the grid extra time to fire up their new power units before lights out.

As per a report from Autosport,  the tweak comes after tests during pre-season running at the Bahrain Grand Prix circuit exposed an unexpected issue: sluggish launches.

Why did that happen?

With the removal of the MGU-H, which previously helped spool up the turbo using stored energy, teams found the new turbos take longer to get up to speed.

The result? Cars struggling to get off the line and flirting with anti-stall at race starts.

How the new start will work

Once all drivers are lined up on the grid, the waved green flag at the back will trigger a five-second hold, marked by a flashing blue panel on the starting gantry.

Only after that brief pause will the start lights begin their usual sequence.

The idea is simple: give the backmarkers enough time to get their turbos spinning before the lights go out.

Mostly popular… except at Ferrari

Most teams backed the change during practice starts in Bahrain. But Ferrari seemed less impressed.

Team boss Fred Vasseur pointed out that the turbo spool-up issue had been flagged long ago — and Ferrari had already designed a smaller turbo to deal with it.

Ironically, that preparation gave Ferrari a noticeable launch advantage in practice starts while rivals scrambled to fine-tune their turbo routines.

Another rule clarified

Race officials also confirmed that active aerodynamics (Active Aero) cannot be used until after the first corner, putting to bed any doubts about teams deploying the system at the race start.

In other words: a brief pause before lights out — but once they go dark, it’s still the usual Turn 1 mayhem.

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