A hydraulics issue triggered Logan Sargeant’s heavy crash in the Dutch Grand Prix, but the American admitted he had been too cautious fearing an incident after his Saturday error.
Sargeant made it through to Q3 for the first time on Saturday but then crashed at Turn 2 when he dipped a dry wheel onto the wet part of track in what he described as a “millimeter mistake”. After Williams repaired his car for a P10 start, rain on the first lap saw Sargeant drop to the back once again on slicks. He was trying to recover when he went off at Turn 8, but Williams has confirmed a car problem played a major role.
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“Disappointing day, firstly just grateful for the efforts the team put in to get the car ready, back in a good window, rebuilt very well, so that was a really nice start,” Sargeant said. “It was a tricky first 15 laps, just being too cautious, not wanting to crash after what happened (on Saturday), losing a bit too much tire temp in those conditions and then ultimately losing too much tire temp which cost me a lot of time.
“Apart from that, I was starting to get back into a rhythm as the track was dying, I touched the apex curb at Turn 8, and I lost hydraulics and power steering and that just sent me off and once I touched the damp stuff there was no recovery.
“Not sure why exactly that happened, something we need to look into, but just disappointed for everyone after the effort, and disappointed for the team, another destroyed car.”
Sargeant also says he was touching the Turn 8 curb regularly without issue prior to his crash, a view supported by team principal James Vowles.
“I’ve used it all weekend to be honest, and it wasn’t like I was hitting it crazy hard but I was definitely using it throughout the weekend and it was always OK.
“It’s more just disappointment for everyone who put in effort and for it to only last 15 laps… I appreciate all the work and the effort and for it to come up to nothing is super painful, so that’s the bit I hate the most.”