Berlin [Germany], March 30: Governing motorsport body FIA has reiterated after Oliver Bearman's controversial crash at the Japanese Grand Prix that it will review its new Formula One regulations.
"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 date to be gathered and analysed," FIA said in a statement after Sunday's race.
Due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races, the next Grand Prix is in Miami on May 3, giving the FIA time to make any potential changes.
The new set of rules introduced for the 2026 season allows drivers to choose when to charge and deploy power.
They can charge their batteries under breaking and once that's done, they can unleash that power at will to increase their top speed, for example, to overtake cars ahead of them.
However, several drivers' have warned about the differences in top speed between the cars.
Bearman endured a 50G impact according to his Haas team, in what was a result of dangerous closing speeds caused by the car ahead - the Alpine of Franco Colapinto - suddenly running out of power.
Bearman approached Colapinto seemingly 50 kilometres per hour faster on the run and had to quickly swerve to the left before going into the wall.
He avoided a serious injury and only suffered a knee contusion. "First of all, everything is fine and I'm good," Bearman said in a team statement.
"It was a scary moment out there but everything is okay, 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. 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, but also I felt like I wasn't given much space, given the huge excess speed I was carrying.
"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 One before.
"We have a month to reset and come back strong in Miami - that's the goal now." Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said: "Yes. It could have been a lot worse. I am just glad he did not break anything.
"We have been talking about closing speeds, and this accident has now happened so we cannot ignore it. Safety should always be top of the list."
Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz stressed that the incident was exactly what drivers have been warning the FIA ir would happen.
"That's the problem when you listen only to the teams, that they will think the racing is OK because maybe they're having fun watching it on the TV," the Williams driver said.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappan, who has sharply criticized the new rules, added: "That's what you get with these things, one guy is completely stuck with no power, basically, and then the other one uses the mushroom mode (the power boost mode), and then it can be 50, 60kph difference. It's really, really big."
Source: Qatar Tribune
