Ayao Komatsu, Haas team principal, spoke about Ollie Bearman’s scary crash at the F1 2026 Japanese GP and how the young driver beat himself up for it.
Last Sunday, one of the most talked about aspects after the Japanese GP was Bearman’s and Colapinto’s near miss. Even though the Brit suffered a 50G crash with the barriers at turn 12, the accident could have been a lot worse if he had not avoided the car up front.
As Colapinto’s battery ran out of electrical energy and he started super clipping, there was a sudden 50+ km/h speed differential between the Alpine and the Haas. Bearman swerved to avoid ramming into the back of car 43 and ended up in a huge impact outside of the Spoon curve.
“He’s hard on himself”: Komatsu on Bearman’s disappointment in himself
When asked about how Ollie Bearman’s felt after his lucky escape at the F1 2026 Japanese GP, the Haas team principal lamented the young talent was being too hard on himself.
“I don’t know, he’s just very, very disappointed in himself. Again, that’s the good thing about Ollie. He’s not making any excuses, he was really beating himself up.”
Bearman has been one of the stars of the 2026 season as he scored great points at the first two races. While he finished P7 in Australia, he was the best of the rest at P5 behind the Mercedes and Ferrari in China.
Ayao Komatsu spoke proudly about his performance so far and insisted on supporting Bearman in both the highs and lows.
“So I said, ‘look, you’ve done some amazing races, you got us 17 points out of two race weekends’. So OK, his accident cost us points today, but come on, again, as the old saying, we win and lose together. And I said, ‘look, you’ve done so many good things’.
“Yes, today didn’t go very well, but there’s no point beating yourself up. We’ve just got to get up from here. And then he said, yeah, but there’s no excuse, this is a speed delta.
“But look, he’s hard on himself, which is good, but sometimes if you are too hard on yourself, it’s not that I’m sure he will bounce back, we’ll bounce back.
“We do it together, that’s the most important thing.”
Komatsu looks forward to improving safety within the 2026 regulations
The accident was extremely scary as Ollie Bearman limped out of his VF-26 at the Japanese GP. Nonetheless, after the race, the Haas driver reported he was “absolutely fine”.
Komatsu echoed the message: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s just a bit bruised up, if you like. But yeah, he’s fine, he’s good.”
The team principal was asked about what could have happened and the possibility of someone being badly injured. The incident brought to life some of the drivers fears regarding the F1 2026 regulations. Many had voiced their worries and warned the FIA about how speed differentials between cars could create very dangerous crashes.
About this, Komatsu said: “Yes, this is why exactly I’ve been saying to your questions, as a F1 community together, we’ve got to look at this. We cannot ignore it.
“Again, I cannot say right now what the solution should be, but I’m sure we’ll be discussing, we’ve got a meeting on the 9th of April as well.
“And I’m sure we’ll be discussing at the team principal level as well.
“So yeah, I’m sure we’ll be all working closely together to make sure that we improve the safety as well as the racing spectacles.”
