Logan Sargeant’s Miserable F1 Season Continues with Big Crash at Zandvoort

Logan Sargeant’s miserable Formula 1 season continued with a heavy accident during final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Sargeant, 23, has not scored a point all season and his Williams team confirmed last month that he will be replaced in 2025 by Carlos Sainz.

Persistent rain during Saturday morning in the Netherlands left the Zandvoort circuit slippery, and Sargeant found the barriers 14 minutes into the 60-minute session. Sargeant dipped a wheel on the grass exiting the banked Turn 3 and immediately lost control of his Williams, spearing heavily into the barriers.

Sargeant was uninjured in the accident but his FW46, which briefly caught fire in the aftermath, sustained sizeable damage in the impact. The session was suspended for 44 minutes due to the time taken to recover the damaged FW46 and to repair the barriers that were wrecked in the impact.

The accident is also a blow to Williams, which has introduced its first major update package of the 2024 campaign at Zandvoort, with revisions to the floor and sidepod among the components that have been upgraded.

Given the extent of the damage Williams was unable to repair the car in the two-hour window between final practice and qualifying. It means Sargeant will start Sunday’s race from last on the grid in his repaired car.

“It is what it is, I need to get on with it, it’s my mistake, I’ll take that, was just a small mistake with a big consequence,” said Sargeant.

While Sargeant has always trailed teammate Alex Albon in qualifying, the Anglo-Thai demonstrated what a missed opportunity it was for Sargeant, as he finished in eighth position.

Up front McLaren driver Lando Norris scored his third pole position of the season as the team continued its strong performance.

Max Verstappen had taken pole at Zandvoort in each season since the circuit’s return to the calendar in 2021, but Norris set a time of 1:09.673 second, beating the reigning world champion by 0.356.

Verstappen enters the final 10 rounds of the season 78 points in front of Norris.

“Yeah, it’s an amazing day, it was a nice lap, the qualifying was pretty smooth, I put in some good laps, especially the most important one at the end,” Norris said. “I’m sure [the race] be tough, Max has been quick, he’s still second and will be putting up a good fight, I’m looking forward to it.”

Verstappen enters the final 10 rounds of the season 78 points in front of Norris.

“I think the whole qualifying we just lacked a bit of pace,” he said. “I tried the best I could, happy to be front row still, but it’s very tricky with the gust of winds so you don’t have a reference, but I’m happy with second, it’s a good result.”

On his prospects of taking a fourth successive Dutch Grand Prix win Verstappen said: “We’ll give it a go but when you’re more than three tenths behind in qualifying you have to be realistic.”

Their respective team-mates, Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez, will start from third and fifth on the grid, with Mercedes’ George Russell the interloper in fourth.

It was a disappointing day for his current teammate, Lewis Hamilton, and the seven-time world champion’s future employer, Ferrari.

Hamilton, who has won two of the last three grands prix, was only 12th, with Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz off the pace in sixth and 11th, respectively.