Williams say they will “do everything” to repair Logan Sargeant’s car in time for qualifying following the American’s heavy crash in FP3.
Sargeant crashed after hitting the grass with a wheel at the start of FP3, causing significant damage to his car, including a fire in the engine area, but Williams are confident the chassis can be repaired in time for qualifying at 3pm.
Williams races against time to repair Logan Sargeant’s car
Sargeant’s place in qualifying seemed to be in danger immediately after the accident, as there were only a few hours between the incident and the start of qualifying.
However, Williams said the chassis did not appear to have suffered any major damage and they would try to have it ready for Q1.
“We are examining the chassis but it looks OK at the moment,” said Williams. “We will try to repair and rebuild the chassis so that it is ready for qualifying. However, given the amount of work that still needs to be done, that will be difficult but we will give it our all.”
The accident was all the more disappointing for Williams as improvements had been made to both drivers’ cars. Team boss James Vowles said that “hundreds of hours” had been spent on the modifications.
“Hundreds of hours have been spent on this update,” he said.
“It looks like it would work well, but there are very few of them in the world. The worst thing really is when you just insert it with small amounts of bits and stick it in the wall.
“The other difficulty is that it’s FP3 and qualifying is coming up pretty quickly. And it’s in pretty bad shape.”
More to follow
