Franco Colapinto "not happy" after Ollie Bearman's Japanese GP F1 crash reaction

Franco Colapinto has pushed back after Ollie Bearman criticised his actions in the lead-up to a high-speed crash at the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.

Bearman was closing on the Alpine driver on the run to Spoon Curve in the late-March race, before he ran off the track and made heavy 50G contact with the barriers, causing significant damage to his Haas. 

With less energy to deploy, Colapinto was travelling approximately 45km/h slower than the Briton through the section of track. Unaware of the difference in speed, Colapinto ran a defensive line commonly used and made no sharp movements, leading both Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu and the FIA stewards to deem that no driver was predominantly to blame, with no penalty awarded.

While Bearman kept his council in Japan, he has since told the Up to Speed podcast that he viewed Colapinto's driving as "unacceptable", adding: “Franco moved in front of me to defend his position. Last year, it would have been absolutely on the limit, but probably acceptable with just a five or 10km/h speed delta.

“But with 50km/h, he didn’t leave me enough space and I basically had to avoid a much, much bigger crash. When he moved left, it was a small move, but with that speed difference, any move is huge, so I was lucky not to hit him.”

Asked for his response to these comments ahead of this weekend's Miami Grand Prix, and whether he had sought a clear-the-air conversation, Colapinto said: “The most important thing was that he was ok. 

"I’m not going to comment too much. After the race, I straight away sent him a message, and he never responded. He didn’t talk to me, I didn’t talk to him. The thing that I’m the most happy about is that he is fine, and nothing bad happened. 

"Of course, big damage for the team, but it is part of racing. We need to understand much better how we can make racing safer, and not take this amount of resetting."

Issues with deployment and the increased closing speeds were a concern for drivers ahead of the season, and the FIA has made tweaks to the regulations to reduce the chance of a similar incident occurring in the future. 

"When things like this happen, the guy that is behind has all the knowledge of the speed that he is doing, the amount of boost that he is using and what he is trying, and the person in front is much more reliant," Colapinto added.

"Nowadays, with the closing speeds, you are watching your mirror one second, and the second after, the car has caught you by 20m. I do think that both have responsibility on it. I would say that I never moved aggressively at any point in that moment or in that corner, which made him have the incident or crash, and I’m just glad he’s ok. Of course, I’m not happy with his comments, but hopefully, we can fix it soon.”