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Sargeant apologises to De Vries: 'Didn't want to end it like that'

Sargeant apologises to De Vries: 'Didn't want to end it like that'

06-04-2023 20:01 Last update: 20:07
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GPblog.com

Logan Sargeant has apologised to Nyck de Vries for the crash at the Australian Grand Prix. Speaking to F1TV after the race, Sargeant said he was sorry for taking out the Dutchman and explained what he thought went wrong.

Sorry Sargeant on 'strange' restart

Chaos on the second restart of the Australian Grand Prix meant the end of the race for Sargeant and De Vries. Sargeant lost control of his Williams on braking for the first corner, colliding with De Vries and sending them both into the gravel pit. The outage means the two men are, for now, the only drivers who have not managed to score any points this season.

"That last restart was strange," Sargeant explained afterwards. "I felt like I braked like I did on the previous two starts, but it just seemed like nothing was up to temperature, brakes, tyres. I hit the pedal, and immediately both front tyres blocked, and there's nothing I could do after that. So sorry, Nyck. I didn't want to end the day like that. It was a tough enough day as it was, and it was disappointing to end like that."

Sargeant is not the only one who experienced braking problems at the restart: Pierre Gasly also overshot in almost the same spot, and Lando Norris already indicated that the condition of the tyres at that point was "unworthy of F1".

De Vries has already forgiven Sargeant

Although De Vries was still initially quite gruff about the incident to Viaplay, he was already able to put the situation into perspective a bit more with F1TV. "Can happen. Anyone can make a mistake and a misjudgement. It's a racing incident. We'll move on and hope for a better race next time."