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Laurence EdmondsonApr 8, 2026, 07:27 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>\u2022\u00a0Joined ESPN in 2009 Multiple Authors<\/p>\n McLaren<\/a> team principal Andrea Stella has called on Formula 1 to prioritise safety concerns surrounding the sport’s new regulations after Haas driver Oliver Bearman<\/a> was lucky to avoid a serious injury in an accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Bearman suffered a 50G impact at Spoon corner after he was forced onto the grass at 308 km\/h to avoid a collision with the Alpine of Franco Colapinto<\/a>, but limped away from the accident with nothing worse than a contusion on his right knee.<\/p>\n The biggest contributing factor to the incident was the 50km\/h closing speed between the two cars as Bearman fully deployed his electrical energy into the corner shortly after Colapinto’s car had fully depleted its battery.<\/p>\n During preseason testing, Stella warned that such incidents could have serious consequences in races, but the FIA maintained a position of waiting three rounds before enacting any changes to the regulations.<\/p>\n The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix mean there is now a month-long gap before the next round in Miami, and Stella said it was crucial the issue of closing speeds is fully analysed before racing resumes.<\/p>\n “When it comes to the incident that involved Oliver, I think this situation, when you know that the closing speed can be as big as can happen with a car lifting or being in a super clip and the other cars having deployment, is not a surprise — we said that already in testing,” Stella said.<\/p>\n “It is in the agenda of the FIA in terms of the aspects of these 2026 regulations that should be improved. We don’t want to wait for things to happen to put actions in place.<\/p>\n “So today something happened. I think Oliver, luckily, it seemed like he got out of it with just some bruises, but nothing too major. We have a responsibility to put in place the actions that, especially from a safety point of view, should be implemented.<\/p>\n “It is a case that should be studied with a certain level of analytical approach. I don’t think a simple solution exists, but we have the expertise, the engineers, the variables to put in place some actions. And I think this will be something that will be looked at in the meetings that will happen during the break between FIA, the teams and F1.<\/p>\n “And like I said before, this should jump at the top of the agenda.”<\/p>\n Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu agreed the safety concerns need to be prioritised.<\/p>\n “Safety should always be top of the list,” he said.<\/p>\n “You know, then we’ve been talking, like I said, we’ve been talking about closing speed and then this accident happened, so we just cannot ignore it.<\/p>\n “Now we’ve got this one example, we’ll be discussing what’s the best way to go forward. For sure, nobody’s going to be ignoring it.”<\/p>\n The FIA confirmed in a statement on Sunday night that it is open to making changes to the regulations but would do so based on real-world data, such as the Bearman accident.<\/p>\n “Following the accident involving Oliver Bearman at the Japanese Grand Prix and the contribution of high closing speeds in the accident, the FIA would like to provide the following clarifications,” the statement said.<\/p>\n “Since their introduction, the 2026 regulations have been the subject of ongoing discussions between the FIA, Teams, Power Unit Manufacturers, Drivers and FOM. By design, these regulations include a number of adjustable parameters, particularly in relation to energy management, which allow for optimisation based on real-world data.<\/p>\n “It has been the consistent position of all stakeholders that a structured review would take place after the opening phase of the season, to allow for sufficient data to be gathered and analysed.<\/p>\n – Why new rules have Verstappen on the brink of walking away from F1<\/a> A number of meetings are therefore scheduled in April to assess the operation of the new regulations and to determine whether any refinements are required.<\/p>\n “Any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis.<\/p>\n “The FIA will continue to work in close and constructive collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcome for the sport and safety will always remain a core element of the FIA’s mission.<\/p>\n “At this stage, any speculation regarding the nature of potential changes would be premature. Further updates will be communicated in due course.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurence EdmondsonApr 8, 2026, 07:27 PM Close\u2022\u00a0Joined ESPN in 2009\u2022\u00a0An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011 Multiple Authors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-593477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593477","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=593477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022\u00a0An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011<\/p>\nMcLaren’s Andrea Stella believes F1 should prioritise safety concerns.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n
The damage to Oliver Bearman’s Haas after his crash at the Japanese Grand Prix.\u00a0Photo by Kym Illman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
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