F1 drivers call for safety changes after Bearman smash

Formula One drivers called for changes to protect their safety after Haas’s Ollie Bearman slammed into a barrier at high speed at Sunday’s (March 29, 2026) Japanese Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old avoided serious injury after spinning off the track midway through the race, although he was limping heavily as he was helped off the course by stewards.

Sweeping new energy-saving regulations in Formula One this year mean cars can be travelling at drastically different speeds on the track at the same time.

Bearman was moving at high speed as he approached the slower Franco Colapinto and had to take evasive action to avoid hitting him.

Williams driver Carlos Sainz called on racing authorities to make sure there was no repeat of the incident.

“As drivers, we have been extremely vocal that the problem is not only qualifying, it’s also racing, and we were warning this type of accident was always going to happen,” said the Spaniard.

“Here we were lucky there was an escape road — now imagine going to Baku, Singapore, Las Vegas and having this type of closing speeds, crashes next to the walls.”

Motorsport governing body the FIA said after the race that “a structured review would take place after the opening phase of the season”.

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

An X-ray revealed that Bearman had not suffered any fracture in the crash and he was cleared at the Suzuka track’s medical centre.

He said he was “absolutely fine”. “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,” said the British driver.

“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.”