Perhaps the biggest moment of the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, a high-speed near miss between Franco Colapinto and Ollie Bearman heading through turn 12 – as the Alpine ran out of electrical energy from its battery, generating a sudden and unexpected 50+ km/h speed differential between the two cars – resulted in the Haas driver taking avoiding action through the grass and ending up in a huge 50G impact against the barriers on the outside of Spoon curve.
The crash was the result of something the teams and drivers have been warning the FIA since the very start of the year, as the speed differentials between cars going full attack and cars ‘super-clipping’ could be in excess of 100km/h in some cases.
Bearman: Drivers warned about potential for a crash like this on Friday meeting with the FIA
Most important of all, the Haas driver reported he’s “absolutely fine” and doesn’t have any imjuries following the monumental crash.
“Everything good first of all, and I’m absolutely fine,” Bearman said. “It was a scary moment that happened out there, but everything is okay, which is the main thing.
“We have a month now to reset and come back. I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart to the team for that because it’s a lot of work for them.”
But the overwhelming feeling in the paddock this season was that the massive overspeeds caused by different battery deployment strategies were always an accident waiting to happen – with Colapinto and Bearman revealing drivers warned the FIA and F1 about this on Friday’s Japanese GP drivers’ meeting after the practice sessions in Suzuka:
“Well, I mean it was a massive overspeed, 50 km/h, which is a part of these new regulations that I guess we have to get used to.
“But also I felt like I wasn’t really given much space given the huge excess speed that I was carrying. It’s something that we spoke about on Friday with the other drivers and stewards that we need to be a bit more lenient, a bit more prepared because of these huge deltas in speed.
“I think we’ve as a group warned the FIA what can happen and this has been a really unfortunate result of a massive delta speed that we’ve never seen before in F1 until recent regulations.”
Colapinto’s view of the “sketchy” closing speeds caused by the lack of battery deployment in F1 Japanese GP
Franco Colapinto was on the receiving end of the potential overtake from Ollie Bearman on lap 22 of the Japanese GP, but the Argentinian admitted that the speed difference was so big it almost felt like he was on an “out lap” compared to the Haas F1 driver.
“It was really strange to be honest,” he said in the print media pen. “I think the speed difference is so big and so large, [that] it’s almost like you’re in an outlap and another guy is in a push lap. It’s really odd.
“It’s a corner that we are doing flat and [he]was like more than 50 km/h quicker. So it’s very strange.”
Colapinto “never moved”, just lost power
Colapinto explained that the curved nature of the flat-out section between the hairpin and Spoon possibly contributed to making the situation even more “sketchy“, and is adamant that he didn’t make a defensive move in order to keep Bearman behind:
“I think it gets really sketchy when the straights are not straight, and he’s turning because we are not on a straight line, we are kind of turning. And as I look in the mirror he was spinning in the grass.
“Even spinning he overtook me, so imagine the speed difference. I think at some points it becomes really dangerous.
“I’m glad he’s ok. I saw him walking in the paddock and he seems fine.
“It’s something really normal. I’ve never moved or anything like that. I think the speed difference is like many things but the biggest one is that one car is doing 50km/h or more or less and that’s when it becomes dangerous.”
Similarities to Colapinto’s Melbourne race start near-miss with Lawson
The Alpine driver was reminded of his near-miss with Liam Lawson at the start of the Australian GP, when the Racing Bulls hit anti-stall at the start and stayed nearly stationary whilst the Alpine had to take evasive action to avoid an almighty crash at the very start of the regulations cycle:
“It’s the same thing that happened to me in Melbourne. One was in a race start and I had to avoid something that was 100 km/h slower than me.
“It’s things that are happening with these cars. We just need to understand how to make it a bit less of a problem.”
Colapinto: Bearman’s deployment strategy through turn 12 was inconsistent in Japanese GP
One revealing aspect of the incident is that Bearman’s energy deployment was differing from lap to lap through turn 12. Colapinto believes Bearman was running 45 km/h quicker than his previous lap through the same zone, which demonstrates why the inconsistent deployment caused by these regulations can create such dangerous scenarios:
“I think in that straight [through turn 12] it’s changing quite a bit. But I never used the boost in that straight/corner.
“I think Ollie was using it. But it looked like he was really strong. I think he came also 45 km/h quicker than his previous lap. That’s a big difference from even on the same car.
“I didn’t see, to be honest, all his onboard either. I think it’s things to review for the future. Especially when you don’t get the idea of how much quicker the other car is – there is no way of us knowing.
“We look in the mirror once, and suddenly the other car is faster and faster already. You get a bit lost with that. To be honest I need to look a bit more at the onboard.
“The time I saw him he was spinning on the grass. The speed is so different.”
