During the final training session prior to qualifying for the Formula 1 Grand Prix in the Netherlands on Saturday morning, a moment of shock caused silence in the usually noisy grandstands in the home country of world champion Max Verstappen: 15 minutes after the start of the second training session, Williams driver Logan Sargeant landed on the wet grass at the exit of the hairpin bend, skidded and hit the track barriers hard. Fortunately, the American gave the all-clear shortly afterwards, but the consequences could still be enormous – possibly also for Mick Schumacher.
Although Logan Sargeant was fortunately uninjured after his serious training accident in Zandvoort, the crash could still leave deep scars on his Formula 1 career.
Since Sargeant completely wrecked his Williams, the mechanics had no chance to get the car back in shape before qualifying.
Sargeant was unable to compete for pole position and only did not start from last place because his teammate Alexandre Albon was subsequently excluded by the stewards and moved to the back of the field. The underbody of his Williams FW45 did not comply with the technical regulations. The Thai driver had previously achieved a strong eighth place.
But the British racing team is particularly upset about Sargeant’s self-inflicted failure. “Hundreds of hours have been invested in the update, it looks like it works, but there are only a few of them in the world. The worst thing is when you’ve only just introduced it and it drives into the wall on the race track,” raged team boss James Vowles, according to “Sky”. He even described the accident on “Auto Motor Sport” as “unnecessary” and accused his driver of taking unnecessary risks on the wet track.
Has there already been an exchange because of Mick Schumacher
In the heat of the moment, Vowles did not want to reveal Sargeants’ departure in the middle of the season, but there was no support either.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff finally added fuel to the fire on “Sky” and mentioned a name that had to be mentioned: Mick Schumacher.
“It’s difficult for me to judge. Audi is the only team that has not yet named its second driver. I also don’t know what Williams will do after today’s debacle,” Wolff explained when asked whether Mercedes reserve driver Schumacher would soon be racing in the premier class again.
“Auto Motor Sport” claims to have learned that Vowles has even already approached Wolff about Schumacher, but the Williams boss has also made it clear that the German is only one of several options in an emergency.
Source: www.sport.de
