Logan Sargeant says he had made an encouraging start to his first race weekend at Suzuka until a high-speed crash put him out of qualifying.
The Williams driver crashed at the final corner during Q1 which means he will start tomorrow’s race from last on the grid.
Earlier in the day, however, Sargeant had a positive final practice session where he came 16th and was a tenth of a second quicker than team mate Alexander Albon.
“It’s been a good day until the incident,” said Sargeant. “It was going well, and we had the car in a good window.”
However he admitted he took the wrong approach at the final corner when he went off. “I’ve just been struggling with rear overheating in the last sector,” he said. “I lost the rear on exit. Maybe a bit too aggressive on power with the tailwind as well.
“The grass creeps up on you quickly as it’s coming back towards you. Unfortunately, once I touched the grass there was nothing I could do. It’s disappointing and not what I wanted.”
It continues Sargeant’s poor run since the summer break. This is his third crash in the last four race weekends, including incidents in qualifying at Zandvoort and last Sunday’s race in Singapore.
The rookie said he intends to “put it behind me” before tomorrow’s race. “What can you do? It’s over with. I feel like it’s been a pretty good day to that point.”
“I’ve been pretty quick, it was pretty much where I needed to be,” he told the official F1 website. “Just another small mistake, hugely costly.”
Albon, who qualified 13th, said the hot, dry conditions did not suit Williams’ car.
“If this track was 10 degrees cooler, I think we would have been in Q3,” said Albon. “But it’s been a tough weekend and we’ve been on the backfoot, so to come out P13 I think is the most we could get out of qualifying.
“Coming into this weekend, we expected to be a bit further up but, considering how Friday went and how fine the margins are out there, it’s a good achievement.”
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Zann (@zann)
23rd September 2023, 10:35
If James was Guenther…
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd September 2023, 11:40
He’d already be a goner like Mick or most certainly after the season, but fortunately for him, James & Williams have a low incentive to sack him hastily.
Zann (@zann)
23rd September 2023, 13:25
It’s a funny situation, owned by americans Dorilton, Gulf colours but hardly any sponsorship on their site, Kraken on the cars but quite low key really. Three USA races coming up, and this one US driver who’s not exactly doing a great job representing the US of A. Presumably he’s cheap, but if he keeps crashing then he’s not that either. I think he needs a pretty mega race.
Dex
23rd September 2023, 13:35
I don’t know how cheap he is, but Latifi was actually paying to be driving, and he wasn’t any worse. I didn’t expect anything else though. Some tried to convince me that this guy is not slow, but time just proved them wrong, unfortunately. I don’t know what could be expected in any case, he wasn’t among the very best in F2 either, and it was a pretty poor crop of drivers last year. It’s kinda unfair to see Drugovich playing a reserve, while this guy is crashing cars weekend after weekend. He’s probably better than Stroll, but Stroll’s dad pays most of the damage at least.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
23rd September 2023, 13:44
Though Logan is a rookie, I think it’s fair to point out that Latifi would have faired just as well, if not better and would be handing over cheques with plenty of zeros on the end of them. That can’t be lost on Williams.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
24th September 2023, 2:13
I have a hard time believing he’s better than stroll, this is not stroll’s best season, as long as he had a midfield car he was average; sargeant could never really be called average.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
24th September 2023, 2:14
Bernasaurus, agree, latifi was performing similarly and williams is one of the few teams where those 20 mil bonus a year can actually make a significant difference, since they’re below the budget cap.
OOliver
23rd September 2023, 10:53
So in conclusion, Sargeant did not make an impressive start to his race weekend and had a bad day.
Elgsdyr
23rd September 2023, 11:36
He’s rapidly running himself into a job outside of F1…
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
23rd September 2023, 12:42
I thought he was possibly going somewhere. Now I’m sure.
Christian, Liam it’s James……
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
24th September 2023, 2:15
Ahah, I guess in that hypothetical call he wants to offer the williams seat to lawson and asks horner to release him from red bull.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
23rd September 2023, 12:51
I think it’s good of Williams to try and get something out of Sargeant but this might be his level, and when there are other drivers available that are arguably stronger (Schumacher/Drugovich/Lawson as obvious examples) I’m not sure on their logic on insisting to keep him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
24th September 2023, 2:17
I like that you mention schumacher in this list, a thing lost on some people, he made crashes like these but he also had some good performances, and he had got to magnussen’s level by the end of the season, which sargeant didn’t really do in relation to albon.
Cristian Ingles (@doctorlovesexy)
23rd September 2023, 13:23
If Williams is serious about competing, and it seems they don’t need pay driveres anymore, they should hire Alex Palou.
Dex
23rd September 2023, 13:37
Well, you do say that because he’s your compatriot I guess; but it would be an interesting choice (albeit extremely unlikely).
Ciaran (@ciaran)
23rd September 2023, 14:46
For a crashed car that picture is very flattering! Love the colours.
David Beverle
23rd September 2023, 21:57
I guess we will soon find out if his American sponsorship & merchandise sales are enough to stay. The crashes are really starting to stack up & the results aren’t great. Williams maybe waiting until after the upcoming American races to decide. Can’t kill that extra cash yet.
Antz (@antznz)
23rd September 2023, 23:34
Yeah my thoughts exactly. It’s all well and good that he’s American but I don’t know that he’s popular enough yet to justify these performances. There are several Indy drivers that would fit that bill and be far more popular.
And well, Lawson has become immediately popular which has to go well for sponsors and drivers like Scott Dixon has made Kiwi drivers popular within the American racing community… still, I expect he will be retained based on nationality. That would make at least 4 drivers with their current teams with nationality being a large contributing factor.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
24th September 2023, 2:19
Pretty much every day sargeant drove in f1 was good until he crashed, it’s no news!