{"id":573547,"date":"2026-03-30T05:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573547\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T05:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:35:10","slug":"who-slept-best-last-night-franco-colapinto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573547\/","title":{"rendered":"Who slept best last night: Franco Colapinto"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Oliver Bearman<\/a>\u2019s Haas went off the track and into the grass, trying to avoid Franco Colapinto<\/a>\u2019s Alpine<\/a>, he was travelling at Shinkansen-like speed \u2013 and had barely slowed down before hitting the wall moments later. A right knee contusion as a result of a 50G impact is as good an outcome as there could have been after a crash just a few corners away from the place where F1 had once already lost a future\u00a0Ferrari<\/a> superstar.<\/p>\n

There was nothing abnormal about what the Argentinian driver did just before that.<\/p>\n

“Once I looked in the mirror, he was spinning in the grass,” he recalled right after the finish in the media pen, indicating he did not see Bearman launching an attack.<\/p>\n

He probably didn\u2019t even think about defending, as that kink leading to Spoon isn\u2019t exactly a place for overtaking. Or at least it wasn\u2019t until 2026 \u2013 bar some desperate attempts, like Sebastian Vettel<\/a> on Max Verstappen<\/a> back in 2018, which resulted in a predictable clash.<\/p>\n

Just five seconds before the Haas went side by side with the Alpine, Colapinto probably wouldn\u2019t even have seen Bearman in his mirrors \u2013 that\u2019s how far back Oliver was before he ‘picked up a mushroom’. But even if Franco did see the Godzilla-liveried machine coming, there wasn\u2019t much wrong with what he did.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

No, he didn\u2019t lean towards the inside white line, but there was still probably just enough space on the left for Bearman\u2026 had he been travelling at what would have been a normal speed for an F1 car not so long ago.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Instead, there was a massive 45km\/h difference, which made it almost impossible for Bearman to commit to the space on the left without losing control of the car.<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t see, to be honest, his onboard,\u201d Colapinto said to journalists. \u201cI think it\u2019s something to review in the future, because sometimes it\u2019s a bit dangerous. Especially when you don\u2019t get an idea of how much quicker the other car is, because there is no way of us knowing.<\/p>\n

“We look in the mirror once \u2013 and suddenly the other car has gone past you already. You get a bit lost with that.”<\/p>\n

\"Oliver <\/p>\n

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, Franco Colapinto, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Mark Thompson \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

He was as calm and composed as he usually is, but he must have spent some time watching the onboards \u2013 Bearman\u2019s and his own \u2013 afterwards. Did he think about what could have been? Did he ask himself some difficult questions? Thankfully, even if he did, he must have taken comfort in how far F1 safety has come \u2013 before going to bed.<\/p>\n

But for the sport itself, it should be a wake-up call.<\/p>\n

Three races is probably not enough data for a definitive judgement on what to do next, but Bearman\u2019s crash may well act as a catalyst to speed up the process.<\/p>\n

There is a lot for F1 and the FIA to consider when balancing entertainment with safety, but Suzuka, it seems, has provided some clear pointers on what needs attention first \u2013 just in time for the five-week break. The latter may have appeared on the calendar for all the wrong reasons, but it could serve as an opportunity to address immediate concerns: qualifying, and these massive closing speed differences.<\/p>\n

Five weeks may seem like enough \u2013 but there is still no time to waste. Because in Miami, the walls are much closer.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver <\/p>\n

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team car after his crash<\/p>\n

Photo by: Kym Illman \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Oliver Bearman\u2019s Haas went off the track and into the grass, trying to avoid Franco Colapinto\u2019s Alpine,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,277594,813,816,107978,85,281569],"class_list":["post-573547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-japanese-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-japanese-gp","tag-sports","tag-who-slept-best-last-night-franco-colapinto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}