This Friday, the first free practice session of the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix was marked by Logan Sargeant’s crash at turn seven of Suzuka – which even led to a red flag. The driver emerged unscathed, while the car suffered several damages – not to the chassis, which is a relief, as the Grove team does not have a spare one.
Quoted by Motorsport.com, team principal James Vowles revealed the cause of the American’s mistake: ‘It’s at the top of the hill, he had difficulty seeing where his positioning on the track was. Fundamentally, it seems like he didn’t realize where he was, with where the grass was on the outside, and he put a wheel on the grass’.
FP1 was temporarily red-flagged after this Logan Sargeant crash #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/dPN5ek6CBl
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 5, 2024
Despite this unusual situation, the responsible person denied that there is any kind of pressure affecting Sargeant: ‘I have been talking to him all week, all these last weeks, in fact, because this is the point where you have to keep a driver very close to you. You gave him a very difficult situation to deal with, even though it’s not his fault [he had to give up the car to teammate Alexander Albon at the Australian GP]. But he has honestly been in a very good state of mind this week and last night I called him at 9:00/10:00 PM, he had a very strong mentality, he just wanted to get back in the car and start. But not with the intention of proving to the world that he deserves a place, just his normal approach to things. What you saw here was not a driver making a mistake because he was pushing the limits. It’s a very different kind of mistake’.
Regarding the state of the crashed car, Vowles clarified: ‘The extent of the damage is very significant. The chassis is fine, thankfully, but I would say that practically everything else is not. So, the suspension, the gearbox broke, extensive damage. It will be difficult. Obviously, we will do our best to try to get the car back on track, but the damage is extensive. So, it will take some time’.
