The British driver has once again spoken about the frightening crash that saw him as the unfortunate protagonist at Suzuka
The big scare
The most important news is that Ollie Bearman is fine – as he himself confirmed just a few days ago – and that he will be back on track at the beginning of May for the Miami Grand Prix. However, the terrifying accident that involved him at Suzuka, in which he had to ‘avoid’ the car of Franco Colapinto ahead of him that was travelling much more slowly, is still a major talking point. That misunderstanding, generated by two cars operating in completely different phases of battery usage and ending up one behind the other with a speed delta of around 50 km/h, instantly highlighted the full potential danger of the current technical regulations.
In an interview given to the Up To Speed podcast, however, Ollie Bearman decided to also point the finger at Franco Colapinto. According to the British driver, Colapinto made a slight move to the left to close the space that the Haas driver appeared ready to exploit, and this action contributed significantly to the crash. In particular, the young English talent, who developed within the Ferrari Driver Academy, complained that Colapinto’s behaviour effectively broke a sort of gentleman’s agreement that the drivers had discussed and informally agreed upon on the Friday before the race weekend.
Colapinto unacceptable
“Franco moved in front of me to defend his position. Last year it would have been on the limit, but probably acceptable with a speed difference of only 5 or 10 km/h. But with 50 km/h [of difference] he didn’t leave me enough space and I had to avoid a much bigger crash,” Bearman explained. “When he moved to the left it was a small movement, but with that speed difference any move becomes huge. So I was lucky not to hit him. It would have been much worse if I had.” – the Ferrari Driver Academy member pointed out.
“We had talked about it on Friday and that makes everything even more frustrating,” Ollie Bearman continued during the interview. “We all said among the drivers: ‘We need to have a bit more mutual respect. Try to defend your position a bit earlier, because now with these regulations the speed differences are much bigger than they have ever been in our sport’. And then two days later what happened, happened: for me this is unacceptable. We need to find a solution among the drivers, have a bit more respect for each other, because I was not happy at all with his move,” concluded the Haas driver.
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