Ollie Bearman brands Franco Colapinto move “unacceptable” after F1 Japanese GP crash

Ollie Bearman says Franco Colapinto made an “unacceptable” move that led to the Haas driver’s massive crash at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old Briton avoided serious injury despite limping away from his car after suffering a terrifying 191mph crash that registered 50G last time out in Japan.

Bearman took to the grass and lost control of his Haas before spinning into the barriers at Spoon Curve in an attempt to avoid Colapinto after closing in on the Alpine driver at a much higher speed.

Speaking to media for the first time since the accident, Bearman pointed the finger of blame at Colapinto, who was not investigated by the stewards at Suzuka.

“That was 50 kph difference… that’s really an unfortunate result of these regulations,” Bearman told the Up To Speed podcast.

“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.”

Bearman went on to add: “He saw me coming and moved. 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.”

Reflecting on the crash itself, Bearman admitted he wanted to get out of his car as soon as possible to let his family know he was not badly hurt.

“I knew it was going to hurt when I was out of control, that was for sure,” he explained.

“Then of course I was just thinking to get out of the car as soon as possible. The car was not too damaged actually for the size of the crash and the chassis is OK and I was OK for the most part.

“I just wanted to get out quickly to show my family, who are always watching, that I was fine. Although it was a big crash from the outside, it was OK and the car’s are incredibly safe, which is a testament to the work the FIA is doing.”