F1 Driver Oliver Bearman Reacts to Japanese GP Crash

Oliver Bearman has suggested he "wasn't given much space" by Franco Colapinto when crashing heavily during the Japanese Grand Prix.

The British driver was involved in a scary incident at the Spoon Curve at Suzuka on Sunday, hitting the barriers at a largely unabated speed.

Bearman was seen hobbling away from the Haas, being taken to the medical center for evaluation before being discharged and returning to the paddock.

Oliver Bearman, Haas, Japanese GP 2026 | Haas F1 Team

Huge impact but Bearman OK

His team revealed that after the 50G impact, he had undergone an X-ray, which revealed no fractures, with just a right-knee contusion.

Bearman had rapidly closed on Alpine's Colapinto on entry to Spoon, forced to take evasive action that left him sliding across the grass, crossing the track at the apex and slamming into the barriers.

Haas revealed that his speed at the time of his avoiding action was 308 km/h, some 50 km/h more than Colapintos. And with the difference believed to be down to differences in battery deployment between the two cars, F1's new power unit regulations have come under further criticism related to driver safety.

Here’s the moment Bearman went into the barriers at Spoon #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/XmurXApWkp
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 29, 2026

It also seemed that Colapinto drifted from the right-hand side of the track to the left, though apparently not in an aggressive, deliberate manner, which left Bearman with nowhere to go, something he acknowledged when reviewing the incident.

"First of all, everything is fine and I’m good. It was a scary moment out there, but everything is okay, which is the main thing," said Bearman.

"The adrenaline is wearing off a bit, so it’s going to be a long trip home, but I’m absolutely fine. The car is a bit worse for wear, but we now have a month to reset, but I can only apologize to the team because it’s a lot of work.

"There was a massive overspeed – around 50kph – which is a part of these new regulations, and we have to get used to it, but also I felt like I wasn’t given much space, given the huge excess speed I was carrying.

Oliver Bearman, Haas, 2026 F1 pre-season test — Oliver Bearman, Haas, 2026 | TGR Haas F1 Team

"We need to be a bit more lenient and a bit more prepared, as unfortunately, this was the result of a massive delta speed which we’ve not seen in Formula 1 before. We have a month to reset and come back strong in Miami – that’s the goal now."

It is understood that the FIA and F1 will review the first three races of the season to see whether there is any need to tweak the regulations moving forward following criticism from drivers, though qualifying is believed to be as the top priority for action.