Max Verstappen sympathized with Logan Sargent, who missed the race, saying that if he were the Williams driver, “I would have been on a plane home right now.''
Williams did not have a spare chassis available for the opening races of the 2024 F1 season and suffered a major headache after Alex Albon suffered a major shunt during the opening practice session of the Australian Grand Prix.
If Max Verstappen had made a joke, he would have wrecked his car and left.
Fortunately, Albon was unharmed in the accident, but his Williams FW46 was not, and his chassis was deemed irreparable on track.
So Williams decided to hand over Sargent's car for the remainder of the Australian Grand Prix to Albon, who scored 27 of Williams' 28 points last season, and Sargent, through no fault of his own, will watch from the garage. became.
Red Bull's three-time world champion Verstappen said he would catch an early flight home in Sargent's situation and joked that he would also wreck his car before handing it over to his team-mate.
“From a performance standpoint, I understand that, of course, but it doesn't take away the fact that this is clearly terrible for Logan,” Verstappen was quoted by AD.
“I'm obviously not in that position, but I'd be on a flight home right now. If that happened to me, I'd be flattened too, no one else could drive. [laughs].
“But in my situation, of course, that doesn't really happen, and I think that makes sense.”
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To Sargent's credit, despite calling Williams' decision “the most difficult moment” of his career, he will not return home to support the Williams team. remain in Australia for.
“This is the most difficult moment I can remember in my career, and it's never easy,” he said.
“But I’m here completely for the team, so I’m going to continue to contribute in any way I can this weekend and maximize what we can do.”
Albon described Sargent as a “true gentleman” and “real team player” for his handling of the tragic situation, and lined up the only remaining Williams P12 on the grid in Melbourne.
This means he will share row six with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has been completely out of sorts due to the “inconsistency” of his Mercedes W15.
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