- Bearman survived 50G crash at Suzuka, reigniting F1’s growing driver safety debate.
- Sainz warned the FIA that street circuits like Baku and Vegas pose far greater risks.
- FIA has scheduled April meetings to review the 2026 regs ahead of Miami Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz is demanding swift action from the FIA after Oliver Bearman’s 50G crash at the Japanese GP on Sunday reignited the safety debate that has shadowed Formula 1’s new power unit regulations.
The Haas driver walked away limping from a terrifying accident at Suzuka’s Spoon Curve on Lap 21. Sainz, speaking as director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said the incident was exactly what drivers had been warning about for months.
“We’ve been warning them about this kind of thing happening,” Sainz told Sky Sports F1’s Rachel Brookes. “This kind of closing speeds and these kinds of accidents were always going to happen.”
The FIA has since confirmed that meetings are scheduled for April to review the regulations. But for the Spaniard, time is running short.
Bearman’s terrifying 50G crash that shook the paddock
Formula 1’s new power units this season run on a near 50/50 split between combustion and electrical power.
When a driver harvests energy, the car slows dramatically. When the car behind is still deploying its battery, the gap between the two cars closes at a speed that the driver behind has almost no time to react to.
That is what happened at Spoon Curve. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was harvesting energy on the racing line, which cut his speed sharply. Bearman was still in deployment mode, closing in fast.
The speed differential between the two cars was estimated at around 29.7mph.
Colapinto made no mistake. The cars simply behaved the way these regulations make them behave, which is precisely what made the sequence so alarming.
Bearman was travelling at 308km/h when he moved left to avoid Colapinto. He went sideways across the grass, skidded back onto the track and slammed broadside into the barrier. The impact was measured at 50G.
He climbed out of the wreckage limping. Haas later confirmed that X-rays showed no fractures, and the medical centre at the track cleared him to leave.
The crash silenced the paddock in a way that a near-miss never quite does. This one had consequences, and everyone around it knew it.
Carlos Sainz: ‘We warned them this would happen’
Sainz has been among the loudest voices on this issue since pre-season testing first showed how extreme the speed differences could get. On Sunday, he was not shocked. He was frustrated.
He was particularly critical of an earlier FIA decision to address qualifying anomalies while leaving race regulations unchanged. “Yeah, that’s why I was so surprised when they said, ‘No, we will sort out qualifying and leave the racing alone, because it’s exciting’,” he said via PlanetF1. “As drivers, we’ve been extremely vocal that the problem is not only qualifying, it’s also racing.”
“Here, we were lucky that there was an escape road,” Sainz added. “Now imagine going to Baku, or going to Singapore, or going to Vegas, and having these kinds of closing speeds and crashes next to the walls. We, as GPDA, have warned the FIA that these accidents are going to happen a lot with this set of regulations, and we need to change something soon, if we don’t want them to happen.”
He made it personal, too. “It was 50G, I heard, it’s higher than my crash in Russia in 2015, I was 46G,” he said. “…I hope it serves as an example and the teams listen to the drivers and not so much to the teams and people that said the racing was okay, because the racing is not okay.”
Sainz also confirmed that drivers held a meeting with the FIA at Suzuka, where single-seater director Nicolas Tombazis indicated that changes would be made before Miami in early May. Sainz said he remained hopeful but guarded: “I am hopeful they will come up with something a bit better for Miami.”
What the FIA and teams are saying
The FIA issued a statement after the race, acknowledging that April meetings are planned to assess the regulations.
It added that “any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis,” and that “any speculation regarding the nature of potential changes would be premature.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella also spoke after the race. He said the incident was “not a surprise,” adding, via Sky Sports: “I think we have to look at the data. Teams should share information in terms of what was going on with Colapinto’s car and Oliver’s car. I don’t think a simple solution exists.“
“But we have the expertise, the engineers, there’s the variables to put in place some actions. This should jump at the top of the agenda.”
Sky Sports F1 analyst Bernie Collins pointed to two possible technical fixes: reducing the amount of energy that can be harvested and deployed across a lap, or increasing fuel flow so the combustion engine carries more of the load.
Collins noted, however, that raising fuel flow would not hit all teams equally, given the differences in fuels, radiator setups and fuel tank sizes across the grid.
What happens next
Two race cancellations in the Middle East have created a month-long gap before the Miami Grand Prix. That gives the FIA time to act. Sunday’s accident gives it reason to.
The April meetings between the FIA, teams, power unit manufacturers and Formula One Management will now carry more weight than they might have a week ago. Sainz and the GPDA will be watching to see whether the sport’s regulators move with urgency or settle back into process.
Carlos Sainz has made clear he expects more than words.
The crash at Spoon Curve was, by his own account, the accident he always knew was coming. Whether the FIA responds before the cars line up again in Florida will tell drivers everything they need to know about where they stand.
