Ollie Bearman has revealed he is ‘fine and good’ after limping away from a serious 191mph accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The incident, which caused injury to his right leg, occurred after the British driver hurtled towards Spoon Curve like a 10-pin bowling ball
He was closing on Alpine’s Franco Colapinto at a great rate with a huge difference in pace between the two cars.
He shimmied to the left – a banzai move – and ran on to the grass.
He then banged through at least two polystyrene distance marker boards, spun right around, and bashed sideways into the outside of the Spoon barrier, a 50G impact that sent up a spray of gravel.
Bearman, 20, managed to climb out of the car unaided but could only hop on his left leg as marshals helped him away. Unable to put weight on his right leg, he collapsed to the floor.
The medical car whisked him away for an x-ray at the track.
His Haas team confirmed the Essex-born star, a Ferrari academy protégé, was ‘alert and communicating.’
‘There was no fracture but he suffered a right-knee contusion,’ added the spokesman of the swelling.
In a statement on X they added: ‘Ollie has reported to be OK and sustained no fractures from his earlier crash.’
Bearman later said: ‘First of all, everything is fine and I’m good. It was a scary moment, but everything is OK which is the main thing. The adrenaline is wearing off a bit, so it’s going to be a long trip home, but I’m absolutely fine.
‘The car is a bit worse for wear, but we now have a month to reset, but I can only apologise to the team because it’s a lot of work.
‘There was a massive overspeed – around 50kph – which is a part of these new regulations, and we have to get used to it.’
And he suggested Colapinto should have given him more room, adding: ‘Also I felt like I wasn’t given much space, given the huge excess speed I was carrying,’ he said.
‘We need to be a bit more lenient and a bit more prepared, as unfortunately this was the result of a massive delta speed which we’ve not seen in Formula 1 before.’
The accident occurred on lap 22 and brought out a safety car that allowed Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli to pit and rejoin in the lead to put him in charge of the race.
Speaking on Sky Sports during the broadcast, Haas team boss Aayo Komatsu said: ‘He just had a huge closing speed against Colapinto so he had to take avoiding action and he went on the grass and crashed, so yeah, scary.’
When asked if Colapinto had moved late as Bearman approached, Komatsu added: ‘No, the main thing is just the closing speed I think, which was huge.’
Bearman, who picked up 41 points in his full debut year in 2025, had qualified in 18th for the race and was fifth in the drivers’ standings ahead of Suzuka.
He later returned to the Haas garage after the crash and was seen walking down the pit-lane.
Antonelli went on to win the race, with Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc coming second and third respectively.
When watching a clip of Bearman’s crash back in the post-race cooldown, Antonelli could be heard to say: ‘Oh my God.’
