Oliver Bearman hits out at Franco Colapinto over 'unacceptable' F1 defending

Oliver Bearman has criticised Franco Colapinto's defensive manoeuvre at the Japanese Grand Prix, branding it "unacceptable" after drivers had agreed just days earlier to exercise greater caution when battling with the unprecedented speed differentials created by F1's new regulations.

The Haas driver crashed heavily at Spoon Curve on lap 21 at Suzuka, whilst attempting to overtake the Alpine, suffering a 50G impact that forced his retirement from the race.

The incident, caused by a closing speed of approximately 50kph between the two cars, intensified scrutiny of the safety implications linked to the energy management requirements of the revised rules.

"That's the first time, really, in the history [of F1], or in the last however long I can remember, that two cars fighting for position have such a massive speed delta," Bearman said on the Up To Speed podcast.

"And that's really a kind of unfortunate result of these regulations, but that was a 50kph difference.

"Franco moved across in front of me to defend his position. Last year would have been absolutely on the limit, but probably okay with just a five or 10kph speed delta. But with 50kph, he did not leave me enough space, and I had to avoid a much bigger crash.

"Basically, when he moved left, it was small, but at that speed difference, any move is huge. So I was lucky not to hit him. It would have been much, much worse if I did."

Drivers had agreed to exercise caution

Bearman expressed frustration that the collision occurred despite pre-race discussions about how to best mitigate the dangerous speed deltas inherent in the new regulations.

"It was something we spoke about on Friday, which is even a bit more of a frustrating thing," the 20-year-old revealed.

"We said between all the drivers, 'Come on, we need to give each other a bit more respect. Move to defend your position with a bit more time because the speed deltas are much higher than we've ever had in our sport', and then two days later, that happens, which for me was unacceptable.

"So, we need to figure things out between drivers, have a bit more respect between drivers because I was really not happy with the action that he did."

The British driver walked away from the accident with no fractures, confirmed by x-rays at the circuit medical centre, though he required assistance from marshals as he limped from his car.

Despite the severity of the impact, Bearman has confirmed his readiness to race at the Miami Grand Prix in early May.

Komatsu says Colapinto not at fault

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, however, defended Colapinto at the time and attributed the incident to the regulations rather than driver error.

"It's not his fault at all, but it's just that we are deploying more through there. So even on normal laps, we had a 20kph advantage," he said.

That's why he wanted to go for that, and he used the boost button, but then that meant speed delta is 50kph."

When asked whether the incident resulted from a mixture of driver error and the new regulations, Komatsu said: "'Error' is a big, strong word, to be honest. You could say 'small misjudgement', but it's scary though, that closing speed."

The FIA reviewed the incident and deemed no further action necessary, and Alpine issued a statement emphasising that closing speeds are inherent to the 2026 cars.

Colapinto's management also defended the Argentine, stating he "was not at fault" and that the incident was "a consequence of the new energy management rules."