Logan Sargeant Crashes Alexander Albon’s Repaired Chassis In FP1

Logan Sargeant‘s 2024 season has gone from bad to worse in Japan.

The American, who is on his second and final chance to impress Williams this year, had to sit out Melbourne after the team ejected him from his chassis following preferred teammate Alex Albon’s big practice crash.

Williams managed to repair Albon’s extensively damaged monocoque back at Grove, but the patchwork added weight – and was then assigned to Sargeant for Suzuka.

“But the repair went better than expected,” he reported, “and there’s no need to worry. Alex’s chassis is a little heavier than mine, but it’s only 100 grams – that’s almost nothing.”

But with no third chassis arriving until Miami, Sargeant faced the prospect of having to drive carefully in Japan – whilst also knowing that another crash for Albon might also boot him from his own car yet again.

“Alex and I both have to get through this,” said the 23-year-old. “On the other hand we can’t afford to be careful in this midfield. That won’t get you far in Formula 1.

“We have to be confident enough to give it our all on the track and hope that nothing goes wrong.”

In opening practice at Suzuka, however, something went wrong – Sargeant crashed the repaired car heavily.

Once the car was returned to the pits, Williams announced: “There is extensive damage to the front suspension as well as the gearbox, however the chassis looks okay.”

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams said “It was a shame that FP2 was affected by the rain, particularly as the conditions were never really wet enough for Intermediates nor dry enough for sensible slick running. Having lost Logan’s car early in FP1, and with Alex doing front wing testing in FP1, we were looking forward to a busy FP2, but the rain denied us that opportunity.

“Whilst Logan’s crash caused a lot of damage, it was limited to the suspension, wings and floor with no damage done to the chassis or PU. The extent of the damage meant that he was unable to run in FP2, but he will be back in action in FP3.

“We didn’t quite have the setup where we wanted it during FP1. We made some changes for FP2 and will now use FP3 to determine if we have gone in the right direction. Fortunately, the weather looks more stable for tomorrow so we should be set for a productive day.”