Why Oliver Bearman was 45km/h faster than Franco Colapinto when he crashed

Motorsport photo Haas Formula 1 team principal Ayao Komatsu has absolved Franco Colapinto of any blame after Oliver Bearman crashed out of the Japanese Grand Prix. After qualifying a lowly 18th and making an earlier pitstop than most, Bearman was battling Colapinto for 17th when he lost control at 306km/h coming into Spoon, crashing his Haas car with a 50G impact. The young Briton hobbled out of his car and was diagnosed with a right knee contusion.

Here’s the moment Bearman went into the barriers at Spoon #F1 #JapaneseGP pic. twitter. com/XmurXApWkp — Formula 1 (@F1) March 29, 2026 The incident was triggered by a 45km/h speed difference with the Alpine , which Komatsu has explained was down to different energy management tactics.

“Leading up to that Turn 13, Colapinto, he was always doing something consistent, it's not his fault at all,” Komatsu said. “The lap before, his speed was exactly the same, so we knew what we were dealing with. Read Also: Franco Colapinto concerned by F1 closing speeds after Oliver Bearman's 50G crash “It's just that we are deploying more through there, so even with normal laps, we had a 20km/h advantage.

That's why he wanted to go for that. Then he used the boost button, but then that meant speed [difference] there is 50km/h,” he added – the FIA confirmed the exact figure to be 45km/h. “So I'm sure you guys saw on the onboard, the closing speed was massive, and he just misjudged it.