Ollie Bearman has launched a scathing attack on Franco Colapinto, branding the Alpine driver's defensive manoeuvre at the Japanese Grand Prix "unacceptable" following his horrific 50G impact at Suzuka.
The 20-year-old Haas driver, who remains on crutches weeks after the incident, spoke publicly about the crash for the first time on Thursday's Up To Speed podcast.
"Franco moved across in front of me to defend his position," Bearman told presenter Naomi Schiff.
"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."
Haas driver Oliver Bearman blamed Alpine's Franco Colapinto for his crash at the Japanese Grand Prix
|REUTERS
The collision occurred on lap 22 of the race at Spoon Curve, where Bearman had been trailing the Argentine by approximately one second through the circuit's second sector.
As Colapinto recharged his battery, Bearman was simultaneously deploying his, creating an enormous closing speed between the two cars.
"Basically, when he moved left, it was small, but at that speed difference, any move is huge," the British driver explained.
"So I was lucky to not hit him. It would have been much, much worse if I did."
Forced to take evasive action, Bearman veered onto the grass before losing control and spinning into the barriers at 191mph. The stewards at Suzuka opted not to investigate Colapinto for the incident.
Bearman's anger was compounded by the fact that this precise scenario had been addressed during the drivers' briefing just 48 hours earlier.
Oliver Bearman was forced onto the grass to evade Franco Colapinto
|REUTERS
"I think it was something we spoke about on Friday, which is even a bit more of a frustrating thing," he said.
"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."
The Briton maintained that Colapinto had spotted him approaching but reacted too late given the unprecedented closing speeds under the new 2026 regulations.
"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 stated.
The Haas driver indicated that discussions with motorsport's governing body are already underway to address the dangerous velocity disparities created by the new technical rules.
"I also think there are a few tweaks we can make with the FIA, and we've been working very well together to try and avoid these big speed differences in any case," he added.
Despite the severity of his crash, Bearman expressed gratitude for escaping without serious injury and confirmed his readiness to compete when Formula 1 returns to action in Miami from 1-3 May.