Most frightening crash of 2026 a wake-up call F1 cannot ignore

Formula 1 had a lucky escape at the Japanese Grand Prix after Suzuka witnessed the scariest crash of the 2026 season. 

There was a collective sigh of relief as Ollie Bearman hobbled away from the scene of his monster shunt largely unharmed. Other than bruising to his right knee, the 20-year-old Briton escaped without major injury despite the violence of an impact which registered a huge 50G. 

Bearman was sent careering into the barriers at high-speed after being caught off guard by massive closing speed when he approached the Alpine of Franco Colapinto heading into the Spoon Curve as they contested 17th place on lap 22 of Sunday’s race at the legendary Suzuka Circuit. 

As Bearman closed rapidly onto the back of Colapinto, the Alpine driver appeared to jink slightly from the racing line. Bearman swerved onto the grass and lost control of his Haas, before spinning across the track and smashing into the barriers on the outside of the corner. 

Data revealed there was a 45km/h speed difference between Bearman and Colapinto due to deployment differences between the Ferrari and Mercedes power units. This was exacerbated by Bearman also pressing his boost at the time. 

"It was a massive overspeed, 50kph, which is a real… it's 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,” Bearman explained. 

"It's something that we spoke about on Friday with the other drivers and the 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 these new regulations."

Drivers make F1 safety plea

The type of accident Bearman suffered was what drivers had been fearing since the start of the season and the introduction of F1’s new and incredibly complex engine regulations. 

Carlos Sainz had warned it was only “a matter of time” before such a crash happened, and urged F1 to listen to the drivers and make changes to the rules before further accidents occur. 

“That's the problem when you listen only to the teams, that they will think the racing is OK because maybe they're having fun watching it on the TV,” the Williams driver said after the race. 

“But from a driver standpoint, when you are racing each other, and you realise that there can be 50km/h speed delta, that's actually not racing. There's no category in the world where you have this kind of closing speeds because that's when big accidents can happen because it catches you by surprise, you defend late, it catches you or the car [behind].

“I really hope they listen to us, and they focus on the feedback we've given them, rather than only listening to the teams. [I hope] they come up with a plan for Miami that improves the situation and a plan also for the medium term future of these regulations to keep improving it.

"Even if you cannot improve everything for Miami, do another good step in Miami and then a big step for… I don't know if it's next year or later in the season.”

Max Verstappen, who has been the harshest and most vocal critic of the new rules, said: “That's what you get with these things, one guy is completely stuck with no power, basically, and then the other one uses the ‘mushroom mode’, and then it can be 50, 60km/h difference. It's really, really big.

“It can be very dangerous. It looks like moving under braking, moving in general, but it also happens when you have that quick deceleration. You can have a big crash.”

Many observers were quick to point the finger at Colapinto for a slight change of direction just before Bearman went to pass him, but Haas exonerated the Alpine driver of any blame. Team principal Ayao Komatsu insisted he was “always doing something consistent” and “it was not his fault at all”. The stewards took a similar view, deciding the incident did not require an investigation. 

Drivers are still getting used to this new-look F1, and Colapinto’s defensive move was one that would not have resulted in such dramatic consequences in previous eras. He was also caught out by the difference in closing speeds. 

Colapinto felt like a “sitting duck” in the incident, which he described as being “really strange”. 

“The speed difference is so big and so large. It's almost like you're on an out-lap and another guy is in a pushlap. It's really odd,” he explained. "It's a corner that we are doing flat and it's just like more than 50km/h quicker than me.

“I think it gets really sketchy when the straights are not straight and it's turning, because we are not on a straight line, we are kind of turning. And once I looked in the mirror, he was spinning in the grass. But even spinning, he overtook me, so imagine the speed difference.

“At some point it becomes really dangerous. I'm glad he is OK.”

What next for F1? 

F1’s governing body the FIA issued a response in the aftermath of Bearman’s crash with a statement acknowledging the “contribution of high closing speeds” between cars in the incident. However, it said speculation about potential changes to the regulations “would be premature”. 

F1 is set to utilise the unplanned five-week break in April following the cancellation of the Middle East double-header in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the Iran war to stage a series of meetings to discuss if there is scope to improve the new rules.

“Any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis,” the FIA stressed. 

“The FIA will continue to work in close and constructive collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcome for the sport and safety will always remain a core element of the FIA’s mission.” 

Komatsu urged calm and the importance of F1 avoiding knee-jerk reactions, but also admitted Bearman’s crash is something that the series “cannot ignore”. 

“As an F1 community together we have to look at this, we cannot ignore it,” he said. “I cannot say right now what the solution should be, but I’m sure we will discussing and all working closely together to make sure we improve the safety, as well as the racing spectacle.” 

McLaren’s Andrea Stella, who first raised concerns about closing speeds during pre-season testing, believes changes should be made on safety grounds.

“It's not a surprise. We said that already in testing. It is in the agenda of the FIA in terms of the aspects of the 2026 regulations that should be improved,” he said on Sunday. “We don't want to wait for things to happen to put actions in place so something happened.

“Oliver, luckily, it seemed like he got out of it with just some bruises, but nothing too major. We have a responsibility to put in place the actions that, especially from a safety point of view, should be implemented.”

While strong independent voices are needed to ensure changes aren’t pushed through simply to benefit certain teams and inadvertently hand someone a competitive advantage, F1 must start listening to its drivers more.

The upcoming break from racing provides a perfect opportunity for F1 to take stock, reset, and figure out a way forward. It is clear that lessons have to be learned from the incident and action needs to be taken, particularly if F1 wants to avoid a Mark Webber-Heikki Kovalainen 2010 aeroplane-style crash.

This is a wake-up call that F1 simply cannot ignore.