Logan Sargeant, Williams, Zandvoort, 2024

Gasly tops final practice session disrupted by Sargeant’s fiery crash

Formula 1

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Pierre Gasly set the fastest time in a final minute rush at the end of a disrupted final practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix.

The majority of practice was suspended following a huge crash for Logan Sargeant early in the session.

While practice resumed with two minutes remaining, the majority of drivers were unable to post clean flying laps when the circuit was at its best at the end of running.

Following a rain-affected opening practice session on Friday, the Zandvoort circuit was wet once more for the start of the final hour of running ahead of qualifying.

Although the rain was stopping as the session began, those who did head out on track at first did so on full wet tyres. Oscar Piastri then fitted intermediate tyres and posted the first timed lap of the day with a 1’24.176.

Nico Hulkenberg had endured a difficult Friday with multiple off-track excursions and a crash at Tarzan in second practice. But his Saturday did not start any better when he locked up at Ernst and damaged his front wing. Luckily for Haas, Hulkenberg had his team’s old-specification front wing on his car rather than the new upgraded wing and he managed to recover back to the pit lane. However, he will be investigated after practice for driving in an unsafe condition.

Just under 14 minutes into the session, the session was stopped by a red flag following a heavy crash for Logan Sargeant, who lost control of his Williams on the wet grass exiting Hugenholtz and spun into the barrier. The car was destroyed and was briefly on fire, but Sargeant climbed out of his car under his own power and was later cleared by the circuit medical crew after a check up.

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Barrier damage led to the session being suspended for around 40 minutes before the pit exit opened for the final two minutes of the session. With many drivers not having set a time in the early phase of the session, there was a rush of cars out onto the track with many, including Sergio Perez, unable to reach the timing line in time to begin a flying lap.

With little traffic in front of him compared to many of his rivals, Pierre Gasly set the fastest time with his single flying lap, just ahead of Kevin Magnussen with Valtteri Bottas setting the third fastest time.

Lando Norris was fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with Piastri, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jnr completing the top ten. However, the disrupted nature of the session and the rush in the final minutes makes the times sheet ultimately unrepresentative.

Max Verstappen was shown the back-and-white flag after crossing the white pit exit line on his way out of the pits at the end of the session in an attempt to pass George Russell’s Mercedes. The Red Bull driver had already passed Piastri’s McLaren, legally, at the pit exit moments before.

2024 Dutch Grand Prix third practice result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap Laps
1 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault A524 1’20.311 5
2 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-24 1’20.450 0.139 9
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber-Ferrari C44 1’21.155 0.844 4
4 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL38 1’21.387 1.076 6
5 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR24 1’21.461 1.150 6
6 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault A524 1’21.643 1.332 4
7 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes MCL38 1’21.850 1.539 10
8 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR24 1’21.941 1.630 7
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas-Ferrari VF-24 1’22.354 2.043 5
10 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari SF-24 1’22.589 2.278 6
11 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber-Ferrari C44 1’23.240 2.929 5
12 2 Logan Sargeant Williams-Mercedes FW46 1’23.287 2.976 4
13 63 George Russell Mercedes W15 1’23.958 3.647 7
14 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes FW46 1’24.007 3.696 5
15 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes W15 1’24.098 3.787 3
16 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-24 1’24.158 3.847 4
17 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT RB20 1’24.360 4.049 3
18 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 01 1’25.433 5.122 7
19 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 01 No time 4
20 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull-Honda RBPT RB20 No time 2

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2024 Dutch Grand Prix combined practice times

P. # Driver Team FP1 time FP2 time FP3 time Gap Laps
1 63 George Russell Mercedes 1’13.142 1’10.702 1’23.958 54
2 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1’13.230 1’10.763 1’21.850 0.061 57
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’13.006 1’10.813 1’24.098 0.111 46
4 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1’12.322 1’10.961 1’21.387 0.259 57
5 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’12.523 1’10.986 1’24.360 0.284 49
6 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’14.467 1’11.357 1’21.461 0.655 51
7 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 1’14.418 1’11.374 No time 0.672 48
8 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’13.597 1’11.430 1’20.450 0.728 57
9 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’14.306 1’11.443 1’24.158 0.741 50
10 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1’13.159 1’11.550 1’24.007 0.848 52
11 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’14.151 1’11.576 1’21.941 0.874 52
12 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’14.279 1’11.581 No time 0.879 43
13 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 1’16.231 1’11.630 1’25.433 0.928 53
14 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1’22.036 1’11.644 1’20.311 0.942 46
15 2 Logan Sargeant Williams-Mercedes 1’15.605 1’11.818 1’23.287 1.116 48
16 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber-Ferrari 1’13.965 1’11.934 1’23.240 1.232 53
17 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1’15.796 1’12.061 1’21.643 1.359 52
18 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber-Ferrari 1’12.206 1’21.155 1.504 36
19 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari 1’13.074 1’13.108 1’22.589 2.372 28
20 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas-Ferrari 1’13.563 1’13.296 1’22.354 2.594 33
21 97 Robert Shwartzman Sauber-Ferrari 1’14.658 3.956 15

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2024 Dutch Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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5 comments on “Gasly tops final practice session disrupted by Sargeant’s fiery crash”

  1. BLS (@brightlampshade)
    24th August 2024, 12:03

    That wasn’t a car just straying onto the grass, surely Sargeant could see that coming before it happened? He just booted into straight off the track.
    I assume he won’t be qualifying this afternoon now.

    1. There’s zero chance he makes qualifying. They should be able to repair it for the race, but I’d be very surprised if they do. It’s a full rebuild after the fire so I’d be surprised if they bother to do that trackside with a race next weekend.

  2. A session ending with an Alpine, Haas and Sauber at the top…..if I didn’t know any better i’d guess I forgot my meds. :P

    Still, despite the reason why (hope for Logan he’s okay), fun to see a variation on the usual.

  3. The marshals were unnecessarily slow with the fire extinguisher.

  4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    24th August 2024, 14:46

    How is Max Verstappen not banned for his shenanigans as they leave the pits? It’s a travesty to allow that. If everyone did it, most drivers would be dead today. Who does he know at the FIA and what does he have on them?

Comments are closed.