Formula 1 experienced a moment of concern at the Japanese GP, but Haas driver Oliver Bearman reassured everyone after his heavy crash involving Alpine’s Franco Colapinto. Bearman stated he is physically fine, despite the high-speed impact against the wall, with only a few minor bruises, mainly on his right leg.
Read more Porsche Cup: Vivacqua holds off Paludo and secures victory in race 2 at Velocitta
The Briton used the team’s social media to update his condition after the accident. Even relieved with the outcome of the event, Bearman described the episode as scary and called for a detailed analysis of the facts: “Happy to report that everything is fine. I’m very sorry to the team for what happened. It was a bit of a strange accident with such a large speed difference, so we need to go back and understand everything,” the driver stated in a video released by Haas.
After the race, Bearman also commented on the impact and highlighted the large speed difference between him and Colapinto at the time of the accident. According to him, the episode is directly linked to the characteristics of the category’s new rules: “It was a huge speed difference, 50 km/h, which is part of these new regulations that I think we’ll have to get used to,” he said.
Bearman also pointed out that the situation was aggravated by the lack of space during the battle: “I also felt like I wasn’t given much space, considering the huge extra speed I was carrying,” added the Briton, who starred in one of the most tense moments of the race.
Read more F1: Mekies bets on faster car to motivate Verstappen
He also revealed that the topic had already been discussed between drivers and FIA stewards since the beginning of the weekend. According to him, competitors had already warned about the risks of large speed differences, when one car is recharging the battery and another comes from behind with full charge, as happened between him and Colapinto: “This is something we discussed on Friday with other drivers and stewards. We need to be a bit more flexible and be more prepared because of these large differences,” he said.
The Haas driver highlighted that the situation was not entirely unexpected within the driver group: “As a group, we warned the FIA about what could happen. This was a very unfortunate result of a huge speed difference that we have never seen before in Formula 1 until this year’s regulations,” he added.
Despite the severity of the impact, Bearman left the episode without serious injuries and has already turned his attention to the rest of the season, however this accident reinforces the ongoing discussions about the new rules and the challenges they have brought to Formula 1 racing.
Read more Porsche Cup 2026: Watch LIVE race 2 of the Velocitta round
