Japan crash 'scary moment' says Bearman as Sainz urges FIA to act

Haas driver Oliver Bearman described his high-speed crash in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix as "a scary moment" with the incident sparking calls for the sport's regulator to make safety-related changes to its new rules.

Bearman's car hit the barriers with a force of 50G at Spoon, the U.S.-owned team said, after approaching Franco Colapinto's Alpine with a 50-kilometre-per-hour difference in speed between the two cars.

As the Haas swerved left to avoid contact, the car went onto the grass and through a marker board as ⁠the 20-year-old lost control at 308 kph with the safety car then deployed in a key moment of the race.

'I'M ABSOLUTELY FINE'

"I'm absolutely fine," said Bearman, who was seen limping away from his crashed car, but escaped without any broken bones and only a right knee contusion.

"It was a scary moment that happened out there but everything is okay which is the main thing."

Formula One has introduced sweeping new rules this season with the hybrid power units in the cars now split near 50-50 between electric and combustion power.

This has introduced an element of energy management to the racing with teams striking a balance between deploying electrical power and harvesting energy to recharge the power unit's batteries.

Different teams are deploying and harvesting at different parts of the track, creating speed differentials between individual cars.

Haas boss Ayao Komatsu said Bearman, aware that his car was faster than Colapinto's in that part of the track, was shaping up for an overtaking move and hit the boost button to call on additional power.

Caught out by the closing speed, he had misjudged the pass, added Komatsu.

SAINZ SAYS DRIVERS WARNED REGULATORS

Williams racer and Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz said drivers had warned the sport's regulators about the potential for disaster.

"We've been warning them about this happening, this kind of closing speeds and this kind of accidents were always going to happen," he said. "I'm not very happy with what we've had up until now.

"Hopefully we come up with a better solution that doesn't create these massive closing speeds and (produces) a safer way of going racing.

"Here we were lucky there was an escape road. Now imagine going to Baku or going to Singapore or going to Vegas (street circuits) and having this kind of closing speeds and crashes next to the walls."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agreed the sport had to look into it.

"The regulations are at a very immature way and actually the FIA and us teams we're going to analyse the accident very carefully to see how we can avoid these things," said the Austrian.

FIA SAYS RULES WILL BE ASSESSED

Formula One’s governing FIA said in a statement the new rules would be assessed and the need for any changes determined over a series of meetings in April, as had already been planned.

"At this stage, any speculation regarding the nature of potential changes would be premature," the FIA said.

Safety would always "remain a core element of the FIA's mission," it added.

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said addressing safety concerns should be at the top of the agenda at the planned meetings.

"We have a responsibility to put in place the actions that, especially from a safety point of view, should be implemented," the Italian said.