The FIA has confirmed it will hold meetings in April to review Formula 1’s 2026 regulations after Oliver Bearman’s crash at the Japanese Grand Prix highlighted concerns over extreme closing speeds.
Bearman went onto the grass and spun at more than 190mph while trying to avoid Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who had slowed on the flat-out run to Spoon Curve and crossed the track, hitting the barriers with an impact measured at about 50G. The Haas driver climbed out gingerly and sustained a right knee contusion but was otherwise cleared of further injury.
The speed differential between Bearman and Colapinto became a major talking point after Sunday’s race. Bearman attributed the large closing speed to the new 2026 regulations, which require cars to harvest energy at the end of straights and can create significant deltas in speed.
“It was a massive overspeed, 50kph, which is a real… it’s a part of these new regulations that I guess we have to get used to, but also I felt like I wasn’t really given much space given the huge excess speed that I was carrying,” Bearman said. “It’s something that we spoke about on Friday with the other drivers and the stewards, that we need to be a bit more lenient, a bit more prepared because of these huge deltas in speed. I think we’ve, as a group, warned the FIA what can happen, and this has been a really unfortunate result of a massive delta speed that we’ve never seen before in F1 until these new regulations.”
The FIA issued a statement offering “clarifications” and warned that “any speculation regarding the nature of potential changes would be premature.” It noted the 2026 regulations have been discussed continuously by the FIA, teams, power unit manufacturers, drivers and FOM since their introduction, and that the rules include adjustable parameters—particularly around energy management—that can be optimised using real-world data.
“It has been the consistent position of all stakeholders that a structured review would take place after the opening phase of the season, to allow for sufficient data to be gathered and analysed. A number of meetings are therefore scheduled in April to assess the operation of the new regulations and to determine whether any refinements are required,” the FIA said. “Any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis. The FIA will continue to work in close and constructive collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcome for the sport and safety will always remain a core element of the FIA’s mission.”
Williams driver Carlos Sainz, a GPDA director, said the drivers met the FIA in Suzuka, where single-seater director Nicolas Tombazis reportedly said changes would be made for the next round in Miami in early May. Sainz called for a “better solution” to the safety issue posed by significant closing speeds.
“I was so surprised when they said ‘we will sort out qualifying and leave the racing alone because it’s exciting’. As drivers, we have been extremely vocal that the problem is not only qualifying, but also racing,” Sainz said. “We have been warning this kind of accident will always happen. In Suzuka, we were lucky there was an escape road. Imagine going to Baku or Singapore, or Las Vegas and having these kind of closing speeds. As the GPDA, we have warned the FIA these accidents will happen a lot with this set of regulations and we need to change something soon if we don’t want it to happen. I hope it serves as an example and the teams listen to the drivers and not so much to the teams and some people that said ‘the racing is OK’, because the racing is not OK.”
Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins suggested possible approaches to reduce closing speeds, including lowering the amount of battery energy charged and discharged during a lap—more like last year’s setup—which would reduce overall lap time, or increasing fuel flow so the internal combustion engine supplies more power. Collins noted complications with increasing fuel flow, such as uneven effects across teams due to differences in fuel, radiator setups, engine behaviour and fuel tank capacities, and warned that teams often push rule changes that suit their own competitive position.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who warned about high closing speeds during pre-season testing in February, said Bearman’s crash was “not a surprise.” He urged a data-driven analysis and for teams to share information about what happened with Colapinto’s and Bearman’s cars.
“In general, the reason of adding a 350kph super clip is that we would like to avoid drivers having to do a lift and coast because if there’s a lift and coast, there’s an even bigger speed differential with the car that is following,” Stella said. “It’s a case that should be studied with a certain level of analytical approach. 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. I think this will be something that will be looked at in the meetings that will happen during the break between FIA, the teams and F1. This should jump at the top of the agenda.”
F1 returns May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix, the season’s second Sprint weekend.