Logan Sargeant Receives Ten Place Grid Penalty For Mexico City Grand Prix
F1Sunday, 29 October 2023 at 09:00
Williams driver Logan Sargeant Was Given A Ten Place Grid Penalty Ahead Of The Race On Sunday For The Mexico City Grand Prix 2023.
The Williams driver received the penalty for "Failing to comply with a yellow flag in turn 3." However, we must examine what prompted Sargent to break the rules.
With only a few minutes on the clock remaining before the end of the Q1 session of qualifying, drivers were just finishing their warm-up laps before going on the final flying lap.
One of the first drivers to go was Fernando Alonso on Aston Martin, who had an incident in turn three. The Spaniard spun around and stopped on the track, facing the wrong direction.
Consequently, yellow flags were waved for drivers to slow down. Multiple drivers have been noted for failing to slow down. However Sargeant not only did not slow down, he even made even a bigger mistake.
The American driver overtook Yuki Tsunoda on AlphaTauri and overtaking is strictly forbidden under yellow flags. Sargeant told stewards according to the FIA document he saw a green panel ahead:
"The driver of Car 2 stated that he overtook Car 22 because he appeared to be going slowly and also because he saw the green panel ahead."
Logan Sargeant might have been on a straight when he saw the green flag further ahead with nothing dangerous in between. On the other hand, the document states:
"The Stewards determined however that this was a breach of the regulations. The fact that a driver can see a green panel or flag ahead, does not mean that overtaking can occur in what is still a yellow flag zone. Overtaking can only occur after passing the green panel or flag."
Not accepting any of the excuses given by the American driver, FIA decided to give Sargeant 10 10-place grid penalty and take 2 points off his license.
"Drop of 10 grid positions for the next Sprint/Race in which the driver participates. 2 penalty points (total of 6 for the 12 month period)."
Sargeant was previously 20th after the Qualifying session ended, and there were no drivers behind him, so the 10-place grid penalty will not affect him.
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