Williams Racing Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz has warned the sport and its governing body, the FIA, of a high-intensity crash happening in one of the street circuits, like Las Vegas, Singapore, or Baku, after Haas F1 driver Ollie Bearman suffered a 50G impact during the Japanese Grand Prix, reportedly due to the nature of the new cars.

F1 entered a new era of regulations this year with cars using active aerodynamics, while the power unit is a 50-50 split between internal combustion and energy obtained from batteries.

It might sound futuristic, but F1 drivers have not been liking the new system because they have to slow down their cars to harvest energy after they’ve used up their batteries.

That means after speeding down a long straight and using up all the energy, drivers downshift aggressively and brake earlier to recharge their batteries.

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However, that isn’t the only problem. Since the beginning of the season, drivers have warned of an incident due to the nature of the regulations that could cause F1 cars to crash at high speeds. Their fears materialized in Suzuka last weekend, where Bearman crashed and injured his knee.

Despite Bearman’s Quick Reaction, a 50G F1 Crash Was Inevitable

It all happened when Bearman was closing in on Alpine driver Franco Colapinto for an overtake on Lap 23. However, as Colapinto exited Turn 11, he slowed down to harvest energy. Bearman, on the other hand, had significant battery left and was deploying it for the overtake.

Due to the speed difference between the two cars, Bearman was forced to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid crashing into Colapinto. He swerved his car aggressively and drove on the grass, hitting the brake markers before spinning out and hitting the barriers.

While Bearman’s super quick reaction time saved him from crashing into Colapinto, Sainz brought up the topic of the new regulations in an interview after the race, highlighting how such incidents could be worse if they were to occur during street races, where there is no run-off area.

Sainz, who is also the director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, was among several drivers who asked the FIA and F1 to amend the regulations to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Speaking to the media after the race, he said:

“We’ve been warning that this kind of accident was always going to happen. Here, we were lucky that there was an escape road. Now, imagine going to Baku, or Singapore, or Vegas, and having these kinds of closing speeds and crashes next to walls.

“As the GPDA, we’ve warned the FIA that these accidents are going to happen a lot with this set of regulations, and we need to change something soon if we don’t want them to happen.

“It was 50G, I heard. Higher than my crash in Russia 2015, it was 46G. Just imagine what kind of crash you would have in Vegas, Baku, etc.

“I hope it serves as an example and they listen to the drivers and not so much to the teams. Some people said that the racing was okay, because the racing is not okay.”

MotorBiscuit recently reported that the FIA could make changes to the ratio of internal combustion and electric energy to solve the problems, after reportedly agreeing that the new regulations have been a mistake. However, it remains to be seen if any changes will arrive soon, given the technical complexities of these power units.

Formula 1 stewards were busy after opening practice for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix as Friday's FP1 saw three separate incidents be investigated afterwards.

Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz were under the spotlight, though all incidents resulted in no further action at Suzuka.

One was between world champions Hamilton and Verstappen, where the Red Bull driver was on a fast lap and caught off guard by the Ferrari’s last-minute swerve before 130R inside the final five minutes.  

Hamilton was therefore under investigation for Article B1.8.5 of the sporting regulations, which states that “at no time may an F1 car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous”.

But stewards found that Hamilton “had been given no warning” by Ferrari that Verstappen was approaching and that he still remained predominantly to the right ahead of the fast, left-handed bend.

It was also deemed that the four-time world champion managed to overtake his former title rival without having to lift off the throttle or leave the racing line, despite the significant speed differential.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Verstappen also told stewards that he didn’t consider it to be a dangerous situation, so race control opted for consistency with a No Further Action striking comparison to Shanghai last time out.

There, Lando Norris backed off to avoid Kimi Antonelli at Turn 1 in sprint qualifying, but the reigning world champion told stewards that he wasn’t impeded so the investigation went no further.

Another incident under investigation in Suzuka was one between Albon and Perez, after the Williams driver attempted an unsuccessful lunge down the inside of the Turn 16 chicane.

Albon went straight into the side of the Cadillac, which was forced to cut the second part of the chicane while the Thai-Briton went into a spin before claiming “I don’t know if he saw me”.

Perez, who was on an out-lap, confirmed this as he revealed his virtual mirror was not working and he had not received any warning from Cadillac about Albon’s approach.

The American outfit simply thought that Albon would hold position, not noticing how quickly he gained, but the Williams driver thought Perez was letting him by due to his initial wide line.

Alexander Albon, Williams, Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing crash

So it was all a bit of a misunderstanding from both sides, who were shocked by the closing speed, with Albon and Perez accepting neither driver was “wholly or predominantly to blame”.

Albon’s team-mate Sainz was also summoned to stewards afterwards for his incident with Racing Bulls man Lawson, who has a history with the Spaniard following their collision at the 2025 Dutch GP.

Like Hamilton and Verstappen, this was also in regards to Article B1.8.5 of the sporting regulations as Sainz was traveling slowly ahead of Lawson at the Turn 11 exit.

It came after Sainz had passed him after Turn 9, but then slowed considerably through Turns 10 and 11, claiming that was because Williams told him of Jak Crawford approaching on a push lap.

So the grand prix winner slowed to ensure that he wouldn’t impede Aston Martin’s FP1 stand-in, which was confirmed by team radio as Crawford eventually passed both cars.

That was despite initial assumptions that Sainz had simply slowed down as an angry reaction to going off and abandoning his push lap when trying to overtake Lawson - but that was not the case.

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