Yahoo Autos ‘Another small mistake, hugely costly’ – Sargeant
Logan Sargeant says his crash in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix was the result of “another small mistake” of the type that has hindered his progress in recent races.
Williams was quick on Friday but appeared to be Q2 material at best on Saturday after adapting its setup to try and improve its race pace, and Alex Albon duly qualified 13th.
Sargeant, however, wasn’t able to follow up on an FP3 session where he was 0.1s quicker than Albon, as he lost control of the rear end exiting the final corner on his first Q1 lap, running wide once he caught the slide and heavily damaging the left-hand side of the car against the barrier.
“I just lost the rear on the exit of the last corner, and just the grass creeps up on you quickly there, as it sort of comes back towards you,” Sargeant said. “Tough one.
“(I’ve got to) just put it behind me, I think. What can you do? It’s over with. I feel like it’s been a pretty good day up to that point. I feel I’ve been pretty quick. I was pretty much where I needed to be, just another small mistake, hugely costly.”
After his fourth crash in four race weekends — albeit one of the incidents in Zandvoort was later attributed to a hydraulic issue — Sargeant acknowledged he has given his Williams mechanics another late night.
“It’s disappointing and not what I wanted. I know the team have a big job on their hands to repair my car for tomorrow and I really appreciate all their hard work and effort. I’ll put this behind me and focus on the race tomorrow.”
Immediately after his own qualifying session ended, Albon said he had also been struggling through the final corner throughout the weekend.
“I haven’t seen the crash, to be honest,” Albon said. “It’s been really tough. I can’t explain to you how tricky our car is with a tailwind and high deg. The last corners will be really difficult. I’ve had a snap every lap through there.”
Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson says the entire car will need to be prepared overnight to be able to race on Sunday.
“At this circuit, a minor mistake in that corner has big consequences and we now must rebuild a whole car for Logan,” Robson said. “The team will approach this with their usual skill and enthusiasm, and he should be ready to race tomorrow.”
Robson was more positive about Albon’s hopes of scoring points.
“Alex had a good qualifying session and quickly got accustomed to the changes made to his car after FP3. At the end of Q1 he produced another very strong lap in pressured circumstances,” Robson said. “This was reminiscent of his Q1 performance in Silverstone and is a testament to his mental strength and driving abilities.
“He put in a very strong lap on a quiet track in Q2; his pace in the first two sectors was extremely good but he lost a little bit in the final chicane. To finish within 30ms of 11th place is a little frustrating, but those are the fine margins that we are dealing with.
“We have a good selection of new tires available for the race tomorrow and will be looking to make progress into the top 10 during the grand prix.”
