SUZUKA, Japan – Formula One drivers are demanding urgent safety improvements following a high-speed crash involving Haas driver Ollie Bearman at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.
The 20-year-old British driver avoided serious injury after spinning off the track at high speed during the race, though he was seen limping heavily as stewards helped him from the circuit.
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New regulations create speed differentials
This year’s sweeping energy-saving regulations mean F1 cars can now travel at drastically different speeds on the track simultaneously. Bearman was moving at high speed when he approached the slower Franco Colapinto and had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz called on racing authorities to prevent similar incidents.
“As drivers, we have been extremely vocal that the problem is not only qualifying, it’s also racing, and we were warning this type of accident was always going to happen,” said the Spaniard.
“Here we were lucky there was an escape road — now imagine going to Baku, Singapore, Las Vegas and having this type of closing speeds, crashes next to the walls.”
FIA promises review
The FIA, motorsport’s governing body, announced after the race that “a structured review would take place after the opening phase of the season”.
“Any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis,” the FIA said in a statement.
Bearman was cleared at Suzuka’s medical centre after X-rays revealed no fractures from the crash. The driver said he was “absolutely fine”.
“It’s a part of these new regulations that I guess we have to get used to, but also I felt like I wasn’t really given much space given the huge excess speed that I was carrying,” Bearman explained.
“I think we’ve as a group warned the FIA what can happen, and this has been a really unfortunate result of a massive delta speed that we’ve never seen before in F1 until these new regulations.”
