Azerbaijan Sprint down to 19 cars as crash forces Williams to withdraw Logan Sargeant

The grid will consist of just 19 cars for the Sprint, due to Williams officially withdrawing Logan Sargeant from the Saturday race.

Sargeant’s car is too badly damaged to race in the F1 Sprint race on Saturday afternoon in Baku, as a result of a crash during the Sprint Shootout.

At the end of the SQ1 session, having made it through to SQ2, Sargeant made a mistake in the third sector and hit the wall hard enough to rip the right rear corner from his Williams.

The session was red-flagged as a result, with Sargeant then forced to watch on from the sidelines for SQ2 – finishing qualifying in 15th place. However, he will not be taking part in the Sprint race due to the level of damage.

“Logan’s car will not run in the #F1Sprint this afternoon despite the best efforts of the team,” Williams confirmed in the hours after the shootout.

“After receiving the FW45 back following the shootout, we worked flat-out on the car but there is not enough time to complete the repair.

“Subsequently, we have withdrawn Logan from the Sprint.

“Gutted for Logan who has shown great pace with two Q2 appearances this weekend.”

Logan’s car will not run in the#F1Sprintthis afternoon despite the best efforts of the team.

After receiving the FW45 back following the shootout, we worked flat-out on the car but there is not enough time to complete the repair. Subsequently we have withdrawn Logan from…pic.twitter.com/cy8Q1nerww

— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing)April 29, 2023

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The stewards confirmed the official withdrawal of Sargeant from the race, with the drivers qualifying behind him now starting a position higher.

除非威廉姆斯打破刹车片条件repairing the FW45, the crash should have no impact on Sargeant’s starting position for Sunday’s Grand Prix, with the American set to start from 15th.

Williams aren’t the only team to have encountered trouble during Saturday’s standalone Sprint event, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon starting from the pitlane for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix as a result of breaking parc ferme rules in order to tweak the setup on his car – a side effect of having just one practice session to fettle the cars.