Franco Colapinto explains “really strange” Ollie Bearman crash at F1 Japanese GP

Franco Colapinto says he felt like a “sitting duck” as he watched Ollie Bearman suffer a “really strange” crash at Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Bearman had a terrifying crash at Spoon Curve on lap 22 after appearing to be caught out by extreme closing speeds as he looked to overtake Colapinto’s Alpine.

The Haas driver was going nearly 50kph faster than Colapinto when he swerved onto the grass and spun off into the barriers in an impact that registered 50G.

Haas has confirmed Bearman didn’t sustain a fracture after x-rays at the medical centre, however he did suffer bruising to his right knee.

“It was really strange to be honest, I was a bit of a sitting duck” Colapinto said in response to a question from Crash.net as he reflected on the accident.

“I think the speed difference is so big and so large, it’s almost like you are on an out-lap and another guy is on a push lap. It’s really odd.

“It’s a corner that we are doing flat and he was like more than 50kph quicker than me, so it’s very strange. It gets really sketchy when the straights are not straight and it’s turning.

“As I looked in the mirror he was spinning on 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 okay. I saw him walking in the paddock and he seems fine.”

Asked if he has had the chance to speak with Bearman, Colapinto said: “No, I asked already if he was fine. Because it was a really big shunt, I didn’t get a chance to see him. I’m glad he’s fine. It was a big one.”

The stewards did not investigate the incident, which brought out a safety car that turned Sunday’s race upside down.

Colapinto called for the FIA to review F1’s closing-speed issue, having also had a near-miss at the start of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

“It’s something fairly normal. I never moved or anything like that,” Colapinto said.

“I think the speed difference is like many things, but the biggest one is that one car is doing 50kph more than the other and that’s when it becomes dangerous. It’s the same thing that happened to me in Melbourne, it’s just one was in a race start and I had to avoid something that was 100kph slower than me.

“Things that are happening with these cars, we just need to understand and make it less of a problem. I think for overtaking it’s the same, those overtakes are really artificial. As you see on TV a car comes by 50kph quicker. It’s just things to review with the FIA in the future.”