George Russell warned the FIA that 2026 cars would be like planes years before Oliver Bearman crash

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George Russell knew that the new regulations were going to create a situation where a significant crash would occur years in advance.

Bearman suffered 50Gs of impact when he crashed during the Japanese Grand Prix. Luckily, he didn’t sustain any major injuries in the incident.

Fans were rightfully furious after Bearman’s crash, believing that the FIA had not taken the drivers’ safety into consideration when finalising the new regulations.

There is a belief among many that the FIA has not made driver safety their top priority, which is why so many drivers are so concerned about the current situation.

In fact, Stefano Domenicali was unconvinced before Bearman’s crash that the regulations needed changing. However, George Russell warned that an incident like this would happen years ago.

READ MORE: Damon Hill says 2026 F1 cars are ‘highly dangerous’ after Oliver Bearman’s Japanese GP crash

George Russell warned FIA to avoid Oliver Bearman-type ‘incident’ under new regulations in 2024

Speaking back in 2024, George Russell told Motorsport Week about his concern for the then-upcoming 2026 F1 regulations.

He noted that the speed that the new regulations would bring would raise concerns about safety, but predicted that officials wouldn’t make a change until there was a significant incident involving a driver.

“When it comes to safety, unfortunately, history has told us that incidents need to happen before changes are made.

“Everybody needs to do a really thorough job ahead of these regulations, because the cars are going to be so quick.

“It’s going to have so little downforce in the straights, it’s almost going to feel like you’re just flying through the air.

“You can imagine in a race that it starts raining and you’re on slick tyres, and you’re doing 250 miles an hour on a street circuit. That’s going to be a bit of a sketchy place to be, so these are questions that need to be answered.”

READ MORE: Haas engineers had to show Oliver Bearman his data to change his mind about 50G Japanese GP crash

Martin Brundle perfectly sums up the start of F1’s new era

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George Russell was spot on about Mercedes learning from 2021 mistake

Speaking further at the time, Russell also talked about how Mercedes should approach developing the car for the 2026 season, comparing it to their approach in 2022.

“If you look at 2021, Mercedes stopped developing for that year’s car and focused on the 2022 car very early. Whereas Red Bull continued to develop the 2021 car.

“By the end of that season, Mercedes were the quickest car. Then you went into 2022, and then Red Bull were the quickest car.

“We’re going to have to assess, come the start of next year, how much you continue to develop the 2025 car. Ultimately, it’s like digging for gold.

“For the 2026 regulations, you’re digging, but you don’t know if you’re digging in the right places.”

This is exactly what Mercedes did last year, as they stopped prioritising the development of their 2025 car very early, and switched their focus to the 2026 car instead.

And it’s hard to argue that decision hasn’t paid off, as Mercedes have won each race this season, and sit comfortably atop the constructors’ championship standings.