Bearman’s accident scares F1. Hill warns: “It is very dangerous”

Moments of fear

The accident suffered by Ollie Bearman in Sunday’s Japanese GP could become the watershed beyond which there is no turning back to intervene on these new Formula 1 technical regulations that are dissatisfying drivers above all. The dynamics of the Haas driver’s crash, who found himself having to ‘dodge’ Franco Colapinto’s car which had suddenly slowed down right on the racing line to perform energy recovery, highlighted what drivers have been complaining about for some time: the danger created by different charging dynamics that force drivers to recover energy at different times from each other, even when they might not want to. This creates extreme speed deltas which, in particularly narrow and fast points of the various tracks, can trigger dramatic ‘side effects’ like the one we witnessed at Suzuka.

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Hill’s warning

The concern for this new turn taken by F1 is not only expressed by those who find themselves driving these cars, but also by former drivers who know well what it means – and how much it can cost – to take risks from a safety perspective. The 1996 world champion Damon Hill, who in 1994 was Ayrton Senna’s teammate at Williams when the Brazilian tragically lost his life on May 1, 1994 at Imola, warned via his own X profile of the danger the Circus is facing.

“I think there is a safety issue – Hill observed, reposting the FIA statement announcing evaluations of possible changes to the regulations – having cars that suddenly slow down while traveling at high speed is extremely dangerous.” Beyond the more or less pleasant spectacle offered by the track, the hope is that everyone in the rooms of power grasps the importance of this appeal: driver safety must always be the priority of any regulatory choice and at this moment it seems that this essential boundary is no longer being respected.

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