Oliver Bearman crash: Andrea Stella urges FIA to implement necessary safety measures. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella stresses the importance of safety measures .

Bearman incident puts FIA under scrutiny

The new generation of Formula 1 cars has been very lucky so far. While legitimate criticism has emerged, the situation could have been catastrophic—both sportingly and in terms of driver safety—if Franco Colapinto had not shown near-alien reflexes at the start of the Australian Grand Prix, avoiding a nearly stationary Liam Lawson on track, and if Oliver Bearman had not managed to dodge the Argentine driver last Sunday, perhaps on a street circuit without escape routes.

As Formula 1 has learned in the past, relying on luck is dangerous and often comes with a very high cost. The FIA must use the current forced break (another stroke of fortune amidst the tragedy of the conflict in Iran) to apply corrective measures, particularly regarding the safety of the new cars. Ollie Bearman’s incident at Suzuka, caused by the high speed differential that can arise between two cars with different energy recharge strategies, highlights a safety issue that can no longer be ignored. Not only drivers but also the teams had already raised serious concerns with the Federation, even before the start of the season.

The words of Andrea Stella

For McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, the risk of serious accidents was evident months ago: “We already said during testing that some aspects of the 2026 regulations should be on the FIA’s agenda and needed improvement.”

“Regarding the incident involving Oliver, it’s not surprising that the closing speed is so high when one car is charging and the other is accelerating,” added the Orvieto-born engineer. “We don’t want to wait for something to happen before taking action, and at Suzuka, something did happen. We have the responsibility to implement the necessary and appropriate safety measures.”