‘Sitting duck’ Colapinto sounds alarm over F1 speed gaps

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto has sounded the alarm over the “really dangerous” closing speeds produced by the energy management of Formula 1’s new-era power units in the wake of Oliver Bearman’s massive 50G crash in the Japanese Grand Prix.

At the heart of the incident was a stark imbalance. As Colapinto harvested energy through Suzuka’s sweeping sector two, his Alpine slowed dramatically – unwittingly placing him in the firing line of a rapidly approaching Haas.

While Bearman managed to avoid a high-speed collision with Colapinto, the Briton’s avoiding action carried him off course and into a spin that ended brutally in the barriers of Spoon Corner. Fortunately, save for a minor knee contusion, the Haas driver emerged unscathed from the wreck.

“It was really strange to be honest, I was a little sitting duck,” Colapinto explained. “I think the speed difference is so big and so large. It's almost like you're in an outlap and another guy is in a push.

“It's really odd, it's a corner that we are doing flat and he was like more than 50k quicker than me - so it's very strange.”

A split-second from disaster

The danger, Colapinto stressed, is amplified by the nature of modern circuits – where high-speed corners blur into one another, leaving little margin for reaction.

“I think it gets really sketchy when the straights are not straight and he's turning because we are not on a straight lane, we are kind of turning and once I look in the mirror, he was spinning in the grass,” he said.

“Even spinning he overtook me, so imagine the speed difference. At some points it becomes really dangerous. I'm glad he's okay. I saw him walking in the paddock and he seems fine.”

Bearman’s 50G impact was a violent consequence of that mismatch – one that ignited concerns even before the season began.

A growing pattern of risk

For Colapinto, the incident was not an isolated scare. He pointed to a near-miss earlier in the year at the season-opening race in Melbourne, where he narrowly avoided colliding with Liam Lawson amid another dramatic speed differential.

“I've never moved or anything like that. I think the speed difference, the marbles, it's like many things,” he said.

“But the biggest one is that one car is doing 50k or more - and that's when it becomes dangerous. It's the same thing that happened to me in Melbourne. One was in a race start and I had to avoid something that was 100k slower than me.”

Calls for urgent review

The Argentine believes the sport must act quickly to address a problem that risks undermining both safety and the integrity of racing.

“It's things that are happening with these cars. We just need to understand how to make it a bit less of a problem. I think, for overtaking, it's the same,” he said.

• Read also: Bearman released from Suzuka medical center after 50G crash

“Those overtakes that are really artificial, as soon as you see on TV, the guy in front suddenly a car comes by 50k quicker and you don't even see it. I think it's just things to review with the FIA in the future.”

In a season defined by innovation, Colapinto’s warning cuts through: progress, if left unchecked, may be arriving too fast for drivers to handle.

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