Logan Sargeant and Nyck De Vries are the two rookies in Formula 1 in the current season, but in Melbourne they were involved in an accident that put them both out of the race.
It was the American of Williams who triggered everything: on the second restart, after the red flag triggered by a contact by Kevin Magnussen with the barriers, Sargeant was unable to make the first corner, hitting the Dutchman’s AlphaTauri right in.
For Sargeant it was the first real big mistake of this start of the season. At the end of the race Logan tried to explain what happened. Apparently it would have been the correct heating of the brakes and tires that was lacking.
Once off the grid again, Sargeant would have pulled off at more or less the same point as he did at the start and on the first restart, but the front wheels locked up and this prevented the Williams driver from not only cornering, but also to avoid the colleague’s AT04.
“When I hit the brake pedal into turn 1, nothing was up to temperature: neither the tyres, nor the brakes,” admitted Sargeant. “I touched the brakes and locked up both front wheels immediately. Apologies to Nyck. I hate ending days like that, but yeah, I have to see what happened. It was definitely weird, because it felt like I braked into a similar point in the two previous restarts”.
Logan Sargeant, Williams Racing FW45
Photo by: Williams
“To be honest, being a rookie, I didn’t mind the possibility of having three restarts in a race, because I could continue to work on this aspect. Obviously the last one I made certainly didn’t go according to plan, that’s for sure. I really don’t know what happened. I have to look at what happened. It was a very strange sensation, it almost felt like a cold braking situation, when I touched the brakes. The front locks immediately and, at that point, there is no ‘it’s nothing to do’.
Apart from the incident with De Vries, the high number of restarts was good for Sargeant to get familiar with starting from the grid. It is clear how to start with the For
mula 1 is literally different in terms of procedures, dynamics and dimensions of the single-seaters compared to the FIA F2, a category in which it raced until last year.
“Sure, I’m sorry for the leader, but for me, departures are useful to continue working. I made a mistake in the end. It’s something I can definitely learn from. Again, I have to see what happened, but yes, at the end At the end of the day, it’s about experience. For the leader I’m sorry, but for me, departures are useful to continue working. I made a mistake in the end. It’s something I can definitely learn from. Again, I have to see what is success but yes, at the end of the day, it’s all experience,” concluded the Williams driver.
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Fans invade the circuit as marshals load Nyck de Vries’ car, AlphaTauri AT04, onto a truck
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
