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Anthony Davidson has questioned whether Formula 1’s reaction to Oliver Bearman’s crash at the Japanese Grand Prix will limit overtaking.
Last month, Haas driver Bearman was involved in a huge crash at Suzuka as he approached Alpine’s Franco Colapinto at Turn 13.
Bearman was using his boost button to gain extra power while Colapinto was recharging his battery, causing a massive speed differential between the two cars.
As a result of Bearman’s crash, the boost available to drivers during a race has now been capped at +150kW.
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Anthony Davidson questions whether boost reduction could limit overtaking
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show, ex-Minardi driver Davidson questioned whether the reduction in boost power would limit overtaking.
In addition, the 47-year-old stated that Colapinto was not necessarily to blame for the Bearman accident.
Davidson explained: “The boost, in the race situation, as we saw with Suzuka with the Bearman and Colapinto incident, going into the Spoon Curve.
“That wasn’t to do with necessarily the Colapinto Alpine slowing down unexpectedly; it was actually because Bearman pressed the Boost button in an area where, to be fair, you wouldn’t expect someone to be pressing the Boost button.
“When you are pressing the Boost button, during the first three races, they were getting the full 350kW deployment, so around 470 horsepower, if the battery had enough state of charge to deliver that, which it did for Bearman.”
Should F1 make small tweaks to the rules, rather than major changes?
He continued: “So, that was what caused the massive 50kph speed differential between the two cars. You naturally assume that it was the car in front going too slow, but it wasn’t, it was the car behind overspeeding.
“So, they have capped it now to 150kW, instead of the 350kW, just to avoid that kind of quite ridiculous speed difference between the two cars.
“Hopefully, it will mitigate that. I just hope that it will still allow overtaking to happen. That, for me, the jury is out on that one, but hopefully it will.”
READ MORE: Ollie Bearman blasts ‘unacceptable’ Franco Colapinto after his 50G crash at Japanese Grand Prix
Oliver Bearman reacts to huge Japanese Grand Prix crash
After being spotted limping away from the accident, Bearman slammed Colapinto and claimed that the Argentine did not leave enough space.
Bearman said on the Up to Speed podcast: “Franco moved across in front of me to defend his position. Last year would have been absolutely on the limit but probably OK with just a 5 or 10 kph speed delta. But with 50 kph, he did not leave me enough space and I had to avoid a much bigger crash.
“Basically, when he moved left, it was small, but at that speed difference, any move is huge. So I was lucky to not hit him. It would have been much, much worse if I did.”
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