Logan Sargeant from Williams Racing FW46 narrowly escapes a collision with Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes AMG F1 W15 during the Formula 1 World Championship in Saudi Arabia. Hamilton’s team, Mercedes, was fined for obstructing Sargeant’s progress during practice.
Sargeant was on a flying lap during the FP2 session at dusk at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit when he encountered Hamilton moving slowly at Turn 10. To avoid a high-speed collision with the seven-time F1 champion, the Williams driver had to navigate the kerbs, describing the incident as “risky” over the radio.
After the session, both drivers were summoned by the stewards, resulting in Mercedes receiving a €15,000 fine for not notifying Hamilton of Sargeant’s approach.
“The stewards heard statements from car 44 driver (Lewis Hamilton), car 2 driver (Logan Sargeant), team representatives, and examined data from the positioning/marshalling system, video footage, team radio, and video evidence from the car. Based on this, they concluded that car 44 obstructed car 2 at Turn 11,” stated the stewards’ decision.
“As a result, car 2 had to take evasive action by going off track to avoid a collision. If this had not been done, a serious and high-speed accident would have occurred.
“After reviewing the team radio, it became evident to us that car 44’s team did not alert their driver about car 2’s approach on a flying lap. This was a significant failure on the team’s part, especially considering the speeds on this circuit and the challenging nature of Turn 11, which is located at the end of a series of high-speed corners with limited visibility for the driver. Therefore, we issued a warning to the driver and imposed a €15,000 fine on the team.”
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