Logan Sargeant‘s Williams burst into flames in the final free practice at the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix as he slammed into a lightly protected section of the barriers in a terrifying crash at Zandvoort.
Sargeant was pushing on the exit of Turn 3 but didn’t get all four wheels fully onto the tarmac before the kerb ran out, and was pushed into a spin as he attempted to keep the power down on grass slick from hours of rain throughout Saturday morning.
His FW46 slammed into the metal barriers causing catastrophic damage to the front and rear of the chassis and a fire quickly ignited behind the cockpit, but Sargeant was able to escape the blaze.
Sargeant crash leaves qualifying unlikely
Sargeant has spent much of 2024 on the back foot regarding upgrades as Williams rushed to revolutionise their working practices under James Vowles, and the American even missed the Australian GP entirely after Alex Albon wrote off his chassis in a practice crash with no spare brought to Melbourne.
However, Sargeant‘s FW46 had finally received a makeover for Zandvoort as he pushed to try and prove himself to the rest of the racing world after the confirmation that Carlos Sainz will replace him at Williams at the end of 2024.
But that mission has now received yet another setback, as Williams have just a few hours to assess the crash damage and see whether Sargeant will be able to qualify for the Dutch GP.
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The 107% rule means Sargeant can take part in the race regardless of whether he appears in qualifying thanks to his free practice times, as Williams confirmed to media including Total-Motorsport.com that he had received all the major upgrades this weekend.
Teams must have sufficient identical spare parts for their cars as soon as they enter parc ferme and Williams need to evaluate whether they still have that capacity after the crash – it’s expected that Sargeant will be racing in an older spec chassis if he is able to take part in the Dutch GP.
