Sainz on Bearman’s accident: “Sooner or later it had to happen. We had warned the FIA, action must be taken before Miami”

This new Formula 1, whether you like it or not, seems to have returned to playing with fate in terms of safety. In Australia, Colapinto’s reflexes prevented the worst, when at the start he swerved to the left avoiding Lawson’s VCARB stuck on the grid; in Japan, the Argentine – ironically – was involved in a strange dynamic that led to Bearman’s brutal accident, who emerged limping but only with a severe knee bruise.

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The dynamics

The responsibility for what happened in the approach to Spoon is to be attributed to the now famous – and hated – super clipping, a phenomenon that cuts engine power when the battery energy runs out and is unable to power the electric motor.

Specifically, from the Alpine’s onboard, it can be seen how Colapinto remains almost surprised by a sudden drop in power and looks for settings on the steering wheel to remedy the problem, swerving slightly to the left.
The Argentine still had Bearman far enough away from him when this happened, but the excessive reduction in speed caused the Haas to approach suddenly, forcing Bearman to swerve even further to the left; inevitable, therefore, was the contact with the grass and the loss of control until the violent impact (the team speaks of 50G of deceleration).

“Bearman had an enormous closing speed compared to the car in front of him, so he had to make a maneuver to avoid it and ended up on the grass and then crashed at 308 km/h“ remarked Haas team principal, Ayao Komatsu.

Sainz warns (again)

Carlos Sainz also wanted to intervene on the issue, being among the most critical of this new regulation specifically regarding the safety issue: “This break (due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, ed.) is good for Formula 1. The accident we witnessed today is linked to something that the FIA and FOM had been warned about by the drivers. It was only a matter of time“.

“We are reaching speed differences of 40-50 km/h and this accident was inevitable. I hope Formula 1 reconsiders its position, because it is clear that these regulations have gaps and problems that must be addressed before going to Miami“.

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