Sargeant insists he 'isn't trying to put it into the wall'

Logan Sargeant was left ruing yet another accident on Saturday, after he ended up in the wall at the final corner of Suzuka International Racing Course on his first outing in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

It comes hard on the heels of a similar accident early in the Singapore GP last weekend, while at last month's Dutch race weekend he went off in qualifying and crashed in the race - although the latter was attributed to a hydraulic issue.

It's all served to pile the pressure on the American rookie, who has been given a public warning by his team to improve his performances if he wants to stay at Williams in 2024.

With the confirmation of AlphaTauri's driver line-up for next year, Sargeant's seat is effectively the only one still on the market for next season. And the repair bills being racked up by Sargeant's accidents is not helping.

"At the end of the day I'm not trying to put in a wall," he insisted when speaking to the media in the paddock at Suzuka. "There's not a lot I can say other than I'm doing my best, but I keep crossing the line.

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"It’s just been tricky with the tailwind combined with the rear overheating," he suggested. "I just wasn't patient enough with it. There’s no reason I should be doing that.

"We’ve had quite a few issues with rear overheating in the last sector and that combined with being too aggressive on power just gave me a big snap," he explained.

"Once I touched the grass there wasn't a lot I could do," he added. "The grass creeps up on you quickly as it’s coming back towards you.

"I’d say the tricky part is just knowing I have the pace but these little mistakes are obviously causing issues," he acknowledged, adding that as for today's latest incident, he would "put it behind me and go again".

"It’s been another great day until that point," he pointed out. "I think we really turned the car around from yesterday and it was feeling good.

"It’s disappointing and not what I wanted. I know the team have a big job on their hands to repair my car for tomorrow and I really appreciate all their hard work and effort."

"We now must rebuild a whole car for Logan," confirmed Williams' head of vehicle performance, Dave Robson. "The team will approach this with their usual skill and enthusiasm, and he should be ready to race tomorrow.

"Unfortunately, Logan lost his car at the exit of the final corner, clipping the grass and ending in the wall. At this circuit, a minor mistake in that corner has big consequences."

While the accident meant Sargeant set no time in qualifying and will start tomorrow's race from the back of the grid if not pit lane, his team mate Alex Albon made it through to the second round and will line up in P13.

"If this track was ten degrees cooler, I think we would have been in Q3," Albon said. "But it’s been a tough weekend and we’ve been on the back foot, so to come out P13 I think is the most we could get out of qualifying.

"Coming into this weekend, we expected to be a bit further up," he admitted. "But considering how Friday went and how fine the margins are out there, it’s a good achievement and I was happy with my quali lap.

"There’s massive deg, the tarmac is very rough and we have the heat, so it’s going to be a long tricky race tomorrow. The key will be tyre management and control from everyone. It’s very tight out there."

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