Oliver Bearman points finger at Franco Colapinto over ‘unacceptable’ move

Oliver Bearman says he was “really not happy” with Franco Colapinto’s role in his Japanese Grand Prix crash, branding the Alpine driver’s late defence at Suzuka “unacceptable.”

Bearman was seen limping away from the wreckage of his Haas after a mighty 50G accident in Japan last month.

Oliver Bearman: Franco Colapinto ‘saw me coming and moved’

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The Haas driver escaped serious injury having suffered only bruising to his knee.

Bearman crashed after losing control on the approach to Spoon Curve, having taken to the grass after closing rapidly on Colapinto’s Alpine.

In a statement after the race, the FIA acknowledged that the significantly increased closing speeds of the new F1 2026 cars, which see some deploying energy while others are harvesting, was a contributing factor in the incident.

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Speaking in the immediate aftermath of Bearman’s accident, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu absolved Colapinto of any blame.

However, Bearman says he was angered by the incident after the dangers of increased closing speeds had been discussed in Friday’s drivers’ briefing at Suzuka.

He told the Up To Speed podcast: “That’s the first time really in history, or at least in as long as I can remember, that two cars fighting for position have such a massive speed delta, and that’s really an unfortunate consequence of these regulations.

“Franco moved in front of me to defend his position.

“Last year it would have been absolutely on the limit, but probably acceptable with just a five or 10km/h speed delta.

“But with 50km/h, he didn’t leave me enough space and I basically had to avoid a much, much bigger crash.

“When he moved left it was a small move, but with that speed difference any move is huge, so I was lucky not to hit him.

“It would have been much, much worse if I had.

“It was something we spoke about on Friday, which makes it even more frustrating.

“We said among all the drivers: we need to give each other a bit more respect, move to defend your position a bit earlier, 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.”

Bearman says he noticed Colapinto checking his mirror before moving to defend the inside on the approach to Spoon.

He added: “He saw me coming and moved.

“Last year it would have been fine; this year he sees me coming too late.

“I’m arriving with such a speed delta that at that point it’s too late to move.

“I saw him look in his mirror and go left, which is not good.

“We need to sort these things out between drivers, have a bit more respect between us, because I was really not happy with what he did.

“But I also think there are a few tweaks we can make with the FIA, and we’ve been working very well together to try and avoid these big speed differences in any case.

“Because, as I said, 50km/h is normally like a car on a cool-down lap versus a car pushing and when they then move to defend. It becomes dangerous.

“I’m glad I’m OK and happy to be completely fine. Looking forward to Miami.”

Bearman’s comments come after the Alpine team published an open letter condemning online abuse in the aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Colapinto found himself targeted online after the Suzuka race, which came just a fortnight after Bearman’s Haas teammate Esteban Ocon was abused for causing a collision with the Alpine driver in China.

PlanetF1.com revealed that Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president who launched the United Against Online Abuse campaign during his first term, personally wrote to Ocon following the Chinese Grand Prix.

After acknowledging the role of the F1 2026 cars in Bearman’s accident at Suzuka, the FIA chaired the first of a series of meetings with a view to refining the new regulations ahead of the resumption of the season in Miami next month.

The governing body met with technical experts from teams and power unit manufacturers last week.

In a statement provided to PlanetF1.com, the FIA reported that there was “constructive dialogue on difficult topics especially when considering the competitive nature of the stakeholders.”

It added: “It was generally agreed that although the events to date have provided exciting racing, there was a commitment to making tweaks to some aspects of the regulations in the area of energy management.”

A follow-up meeting between the FIA and technical experts was held on April 16 before what is described as ‘a high-level meeting with representation from all stakeholders’ takes place next Monday (April 20).

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