F1: Sargeant's wretched Dutch GP weekend not totally his fault

American rookie Logan Sargeant’s weekend went from bad to worse during the Dutch GP weekend, amid calls for Williams F1 to replace him.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Sargeant suffered two heavy crashes, one in qualifying and then again in the race.

In qualifying at the Zandvoort circuit, the American driver had performed superbly to reach Q3 for the first time in his rookie campaign with Williams, only to crash heavily out of Turn 2, damaging both the front and rear end.

A dejected Logan Sargeant sits in grass to ponder his future

The Williams team then rebuilt the car overnight, but on lap 16 of the race on Sunday he crashed out in Turn 8, only this time it was not his fault.

The team put out a statement that said “Logan’s FW45 suffered a loss of hydraulics on landing from taking a curb. Now we’ve got the car back, we’ll assess it and review what caused this issue before getting it ready for Monza and for Logan to keep his head up.

“Firstly, I’m just grateful for all the efforts that the team put in to get the car ready. It was back in a good window, rebuilt very well, so that was a really nice start.

“But it was a tricky first 15 laps, just being too cautious, not wanting to crash after what had happened (in qualifying), just losing a bit too much tire temp in those wet conditions, which cost me a lot of time. I left too much on the table at the start.

“Apart from that, I was starting to get back into a rhythm as the track was drying, but then I just touched the apex curve at Turn 8, and I lost hydraulics and power steering, and that just sent me off.

“Once I touched all the damp stuff, there was really no recovery, so not sure why exactly that happened.

Sargeant's car returns to the pits on a flatbed truck — Sargeant’s car returns to the pits on a flatbed truck

“It’s something we need to look into for sure, but honestly, I’m just disappointed for everyone who put in the effort to have it ready, disappointed for the team, another destroyed car.

“For it to only last 15 laps, and I appreciate all the work and all the effort, but for it to come to nothing is super painful. That’s the bit I hate the most.”

“I’ve used the curb all weekend, to be honest, and it wasn’t like I was hitting it crazy hard,” said Sargeant. “It was always okay.”