American bias? Logan Sargeant walks free without a penalty for rear ending Nyck De Vries in the Australian GP

The 2023 Australian GP weekend was a tough pill to swallow for Williams drivers Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon. What was already turning out to be a chaotic weekend with weathers conditions preceding the race, the GP itself was bonkers. While Sargeant had qualified P18, his older and much experienced teammate had gotten all the way to Q3.

Alex Albon sent the Williams garage roaring in celebration as he qualified P8 for Sunday’s grand prix. After a whole weekend of preparation, the two drivers seemed ready for the race. After a frantic start to the race, an early retirement from Charles Leclerc didn’t seem to be the only turning point of the grand prix. During Lap 7 for the race, disaster struck for Williams as Alex crashed his car into a barrier leading to a red flag.

Fast forward to the ending leg of the 2023 Australian GP, fans got to witness absolute chaos when Kevin Magnussen’s retirement caused a late red flag. With 55 laps under the bag, it was decided that the race will be started again after the debris has been cleared. After a formation lap, the race restarted on Lap 57 where all the drama unfolded leading to utter chaos on track.

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Logan Sargeant was one of the multiple drivers involved in a multi car accident

As soon as the lights went out, the drivers pushed as hard as possible in what seemed to be a 2 lap sprint to the finish. However, terror struck as there was a massive collision involving 6 drivers. Carlos Sainz came into contact with Fernando Alonso and sent him in a spin. Meanwhile Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon collided leading to a double DNF for Alpine.

While this was happening at the front, Logan Sargeant went on to rear end Nyck De Vries as both the drivers failed to finish the race. The restart was very eventful to say the least. With all things being considered, race control decided to have one lap with the remaining cars in the order of the previous lap of the red flag. This decision hurt many drivers who’s race was ended due to incidents occurring with other drivers.

Carlos Sainz’s unfair penalty before the last red flag unearthed questions over other incidents

The Ferrari driver received a 5 second penalty for sending Fernando Alonso into a spin. Many considered it to be a bit unfair as the last lap was under a safety car leading to the Spaniard being put out of a points paying position in P12. On the other hand, Alpine drivers didn’t receive any penalty for their race ending collision. However, this was not the end as there was another incident that went unnoticed.

Logan Sargent rammed into the rear of Nyck De Vries’s AlphaTauri during the restart which led to both of them retiring. While Carlos was given a penalty for his actions, Logan wasn’t and that seemed to piss of many fans and critics of the sport. Many called for a grid penalty to be given to the American driver but it seems like no action is being taken agains the Williams driver.

Carlos Sainz getting a penalty and Logan Sargeant not receiving one has caused a ruckus amongst the fans

After the race, Logan Sargeant explained the reason behind his unfortunate incident with the AlphaTauri driver. “The last restart was was pretty weird,” he told F1 TV. “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 it was immediate. Both fronts locked and there was nothing I could do from there.” he said.

“Sorry to Nyck. I didn’t want to end the day like that. It was a tough enough day as it was. It was disappointing,” he continued. However, the damage had already been done and it was irreversible as Nyck had to retire from the race through no fault of his own. While Logan Sargeant is not to blame for the unfairness of the situation, the eyes turn towards race control and the stewards.

Was American bias the reason behind the decision of not giving a penalty to Logan Sargeant?

America is a hub of motorsport. With various racing series competing in the nation, the rise of F1 has been propelled 10x. This being due to the popularity of the sport increasing rapidly with the introduction of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series. With an American F1 team already being on the grid, the sport was only missing an American F1 driver.

For the 2023 F1 season, American racer Logan Sargeant made his debut for Williams in the pinnacle of motorsport. While many think that Logan’s nationality has had an effect on the minimal action taken against him, the most logical explanation seems to contradict that. The restart of the Australian Grand Prix was so chaotic that no one knew what was happening.

However, the fact that Sargeant got away without a penalty is a wake up call for the FIA to implement the rules equally. Especially when it comes to driver incident such as this. Since Logan retired from the race, it would only make sense if he got a 3 place grid penalty for the Azerbaijan GP. It is important for stewards to be alert and protect the integrity of the sport to make sure that these things do not happen again.

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