Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Franco Colapinto has rejected Oliver Bearman’s claim that he caused their high-speed Suzuka crash, insisting ahead of the Miami Grand Prix that he “never moved aggressively,” that “both have responsibility on it,” and that Bearman did not reply after he messaged him immediately after the incident.
The flashpoint came at Spoon Curve in Japan, where Bearman closed rapidly on the Alpine after Colapinto lost energy deployment. The FIA confirmed a 45km/h speed differential before the Haas driver ran onto the grass and hit the barriers with 50G force, causing major damage to his car.
The stewards chose not to penalize Colapinto, and Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said the Alpine driver had been “always doing something consistent” on the run to Turn 13 and that “it’s not his fault at all.” Komatsu also said Haas already knew the speed difference could be significant there, with the gap increasing sharply when Colapinto used his boost.
Bearman’s view became clear only later. Speaking on the Up to Speed podcast, he said: “Franco moved in front of me to defend his position.” He argued that with “50km/h, he didn’t leave me enough space and I basically had to avoid a much, much bigger crash,” adding that even a small move became critical with that speed delta. He called the episode “unacceptable.”
Colapinto said his priority after the accident was Bearman’s condition, not the blame debate. “The most important thing was that he was ok,” he said. “After the race, I straight away sent him a message, and he never responded.” He added that he did not want to keep escalating the dispute, even though he was “not happy with his comments.”
His central argument was that the incident exposed a wider safety problem under current conditions rather than a simple defensive mistake. Colapinto said the following driver has far more information in that moment: “The guy that is behind has all the knowledge of the speed that he is doing, the amount of boost that he is using and what he is trying, and the person in front is much more reliant.”
He said the closing rates now leave almost no time to react. “Nowadays, with the closing speeds, you are watching your mirror one second, and the second after, the car has caught you by 20m,” Colapinto said. “I do think that both have responsibility on it.” He maintained that nothing he did in the corner was aggressive enough to trigger the crash and said he hoped the two could “fix it soon.”
When Colapinto’s remarks were put to him in Miami, Bearman said he had not seen the message. “Honestly, I didn’t see the text message,” he said. He stopped short of reopening the row, describing Suzuka as “an unfortunate accident” and adding: “I don’t think it had to finish like that, let’s say, but no, no grudges - I’m not that type of person.”
The disagreement still leaves a split reading of one of the season’s most alarming accidents, but both drivers’ comments point back to the same issue: the extreme closing speeds that turned a routine pass into a 50G warning for Formula 1’s racing safety.