American Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant is having a brutal couple of weeks. First, he was taken out of the Australian Grand Prix to make room for teammate Alex Albon after Albon crashed hard in practice. Next came news that Albon would keep his unbroken chassis and he would have to race in the slightly heavier repaired car. Now, a new crash has Sargeant at looking at another set of major repairs.
The incident happened when Sargeant put two wheels off while running a line that followed first a kerb, then an access road. When that road came to an end, Sargeant found himself first turning at high speed with two wheels in the dirt and then spinning hard into an outside barrier.
Team principal James Vowles later confirmed that the car's chassis, which Williams could not repair or replace at the track, avoided major damage. Unfortunately for Sargeant, the suspension and gearbox were both damaged in the hit and repairs are fairly major. The team did not complete repairs in time to compete in the weekend's second practice session, but the damage is said to be fixable and Sargeant should be able to compete in the rest of the race weekend.
The team confirmed earlier in the week that it does not have a spare chassis and will not until Miami, so any crash by either Albon or Sargeant opens up the risk of unrepairable chassis damage that knocks the entry out of both this weekend's round in Japan and the upcoming round in China. Sargeant fortunately avoided that fate today, but until repairs are confirmed to be complete, he is still at risk of missing this race.
