{"id":568846,"date":"2026-03-29T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/568846\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:14:09","slug":"f1-drivers-demand-urgent-action-after-oliver-bearmans-scary-crash-at-japan-gp-formula-one-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/568846\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 drivers demand urgent action after Oliver Bearman\u2019s \u2018scary\u2019 crash at Japan GP | Formula One 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drivers and leading figures within Formula One<\/a> have called for urgent action given their serious concern over the potential dangers now inherent in the sport after Oliver Bearman was involved in a huge accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The crash, caused by cars coming at one another at enormously different speeds, was described by the British driver as \u201cscary\u201d and by his Haas team principal as a lucky escape. The race was ultimately won for Mercedes by Kimi Antonelli<\/a>, the 19-year-old in the process becoming the youngest driver to lead the world championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a scary moment out there but everything is OK, which is the main thing,\u201d said Bearman, who escaped the massive crash with only bruising. \u201cThe adrenaline is wearing off a bit so it\u2019s going to be a long trip home, but I\u2019m absolutely fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bearman went off the track at 190mph and his car was sent hurtling into the barriers, where he sustained a 50G impact, after he had to swerve to avoid hitting Franco Colapinto\u2019s car, which was going relatively slowly.<\/p>\n

The differential, a closing speed of 50kph, had been caused because Bearman was deploying extra electrical power \u2013 the boost mode \u2013 just as Colapinto was going much slower as his energy use had been depleted. Many had warned this scenario was likely under the new regulations, with the management of electrical energy now an integral part of racing.<\/p>\n

Franco Colapinto in the Alpine ahead of Oliver Bearman before the Haas driver\u2019s crash. Photograph: Alastair Staley\/LAT Images<\/p>\n

The Haas team principal, Ayao Komatsu, agreed when asked if Bearman had a lucky escape. \u201cYes. It could have been a lot worse,\u201d he said. \u201cI am just glad he did not break anything. We have been talking about closing speeds, and this accident has now happened so we cannot ignore it. Safety should always be top of the list.\u201d<\/p>\n

The F1 world champion, Lando Norris, had warned that this was a danger for the sport at the first round in Australia<\/a> and his McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, had highlighted it as a potential danger before the season had even begun during testing.<\/p>\n

After the accident at Suzuka, the Williams driver Carlos Sainz was unequivocal that action had to be taken. \u201cWe\u2019ve been warning them about this happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kind of closing speeds and these kind of accidents were always going to happen and I\u2019m not very happy with what we\u2019ve had up until now. Hopefully we come up with a better solution that doesn\u2019t create these massive closing speeds and a safer way of going racing.<\/p>\n

Oliver Bearman walks down pit lane after his crash. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lucky there was an escape road. Now imagine going to Baku or Singapore or Vegas and having this kind of closing speeds and crashes next to the walls. We\u2019ve warned the FIA [the governing body] these accidents are going to happen a lot with this set of regulations and we need to change something soon if we don\u2019t want them to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stella agreed that it lent an urgency to the imperative for action. \u201cThis should jump to the top of the agenda,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to wait for things to happen to put actions in place. Today something happened. Oliver, luckily, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick GuideF1 Japan GP: result and overall standingsShow<\/p>\n

1 Kimi Antonelli (It) Mercedes <\/p>\n

2 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren at 13.722sec<\/p>\n

3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari at 15.270s<\/p>\n

4 George Russell (GB) Mercedes GP at 15.754s<\/p>\n

5 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren at 23.479s<\/p>\n

6 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari at 25.037s<\/p>\n

7 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Alpine at 32.340s<\/p>\n

8 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull at 32.677s<\/p>\n

9 Liam Lawson (NZ) RacingBulls at 50.180s<\/p>\n

10 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas at 51.216s<\/p>\n

11 Nico H\u00fclkenberg (Ger) Audi at 52.280s<\/p>\n

12 Isack Hadjar (Fr) Red Bull at 56.154s<\/p>\n

13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Bra) Audi at 59.078s<\/p>\n

14 Arvid Lindblad (GB) RacingBulls at 59.848s<\/p>\n

15 Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Williams at 1m 05.008s<\/p>\n

16 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine at 1:05.773<\/p>\n

17 Sergio Perez (Mex) Cadillac at 1:32.453<\/p>\n

18 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Aston Martin at 1 lap<\/p>\n

19 Valtteri Bottas (Finn) Cadillac at 1 lap<\/p>\n

20 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams at 2 laps<\/p>\n

Not Classified: Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas, Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin<\/p>\n

World drivers’ championship standings<\/p>\n

1 Kimi Antonelli (It) 72pts<\/p>\n

2 George Russell (GB) 63<\/p>\n

3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) 49<\/p>\n

4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) 41<\/p>\n

5 Lando Norris (GB) 25<\/p>\n

6 Oscar Piastri (Aus) 21<\/p>\n

7 Oliver Bearman (GB) 17<\/p>\n

8 Pierre Gasly (Fr) 15<\/p>\n

9 Max Verstappen (Neth) 12<\/p>\n

10 Liam Lawson (NZ) 10<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

The FIA issued a statement confirming that the regulations are to be reviewed in the period before the next round in Miami in five weeks. \u201cA number of meetings are scheduled in April to assess the operation of the new regulations and to determine whether any refinements are required,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli claimed his second successive win having dropped from pole to sixth at the start. Oscar Piastri finished second while Charles Leclerc came third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drivers and leading figures within Formula One have called for urgent action given their serious concern over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-568846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}