Oliver Bearman has delivered a brutal takedown of Franco Colapinto for his role in his huge Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix shunt, describing the Argentinian’s actions as “unacceptable.”
The British driver was sent skidding backwards into the tyre wall at the Spoon Curve in the race at the Suzuka circuit, after swerving to avoid a slowing Colapinto.
Bearman was subjected to 50G upon impact, as his Haas was forced to take action due to the speed difference caused by Colapinto’s energy harvesting.
It has led to serious concerns regarding how such speed differences may cause similar accidents, sparking further debate on the new technical regulations.
But speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Bearman, whilst acknowledging the speed difference played a part, aimed the blame primarily at the Argentinian’s door.
“That was 50 kph difference… that’s really an unfortunate result of these regulations,” he said.
“Franco moved across in front of me to defend his position. Last year would have been absolutely on the limit but probably OK with just a 5 or 10 kph speed delta. But with 50 kph, 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 to not hit him. It would have been much, much worse if I did.
“But I think it was something we spoke about on Friday, which is even a bit more of a frustrating thing. We said between all the drivers, come on, we need to give each other a bit more respect.
“Yeah. 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.”
Oliver Bearman was sent into the wall at Spoon and caused a 50G impact
Oliver Bearman calls on F1 drivers to discover limits of new regulations
Bearman continued that, due to the speed differences caused by the new 50-50 hybrid power units, drivers should be more acutely aware of any semblance of jinking across the track, in case a faster car is indeed approaching.
“He saw me coming and moved,” he said. “Last year that would have been OK, but this year, he saw me coming too late.
“I’m coming at such a speed delta that at stage it’s too late to move. I see he looked in his mirrors and went left, which is not good.
“Last year we were pushing it to the absolute limit, moving to the last second. The overtaking was so difficult and the regulations were so mature that everyone knew what the limits were of those cars.
“Now we’re in a new era where we don’t know exactly what the limits are.”
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