Bearman suffers bruised knee in huge 50G Japanese GP crash

Oliver Bearman was taken to the Medical Centre after suffering a huge crash during the Japanese Grand Prix.

His Haas team confirmed the driver suffered no fractures in the impact but sustained a contusion to his right knee.

The crash occured as Bearman was trying to pass Alpine’s Franco Colapinto approaching the corner. The Haas driver gained on Colapinto with a significant speed difference and ran off-track to the left of the Alpine as they approached to the corner.

Bearman hit a corner marked on the inside of the corner, spun across the track and made heavy contact with the barrier on the outside. His team confirmed he was travelling at 308kph when he went off and his peak deceleration was measured at 50G.

The stewards noted the incident deemed no investigation was necessary. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said he did not think Colapinto was to blame for Bearman’s crash.

“He just had huge closing speed against the car in front, so he had to take avoiding action and he went on the grass and crashed,” Komatsu told Sky. “The main thing was just the closing speed, I think, it’s just huge.”

Colapinto said he was relieved Bearman was okay after the crash. “I’m glad he’s fine, to be honest,” he said. “It’s the first thing I asked to the team because it was a really big one. I saw him spinning on the grass and then I knew it was very hard hit, so I’m happy he’s okay.”

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