Bearman incident, FIA under fire
The new generation of Formula 1 has been very lucky. Legitimate criticisms have arrived, but the situation could have been (sportingly, but not only) catastrophic if Franco Colapinto hadn’t had alien-like reflexes at the start of the Australian GP, when he had to dodge a Liam Lawson practically stationary on the track, and if Oliver Bearman hadn’t avoided the Argentine last Sunday, perhaps on a street circuit without escape routes.
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As F1 has learned in the past, hoping for good luck is dangerous and often leads to a very high price. The FIA must take advantage of the month of forced break (another assist from fate, in the tragedy of the war in Iran) to apply corrections also to the safety of the new cars. Bearman’s incident at Suzuka, caused by the high speed gap created between two cars with different charging strategies, raises an issue that can no longer be ignored. Indeed, because not only the drivers but also the teams expressed strong concerns to the Federation, even before the start of the World Championship.
Stella’s words
For McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, the danger of serious accidents was already evident months ago: “We already said during testing that some aspects of the 2026 regulations that should be improved should have been on the FIA’s agenda“.
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“Regarding the incident involving Oliver, it is no surprise that the closing speed is so high when one car is charging and the other is accelerating“, added the engineer from Orvieto. “We don’t want to wait for things to happen to take action, and at Suzuka something happened. We have the responsibility to intervene with necessary and appropriate safety measures“.
