Shortly before the halfway point of the Chinese Grand Prix, during the neutralization necessary to remove Valtteri Bottas' Sauber, which had stopped due to a technical problem, Logan Sargeant was driving along the starting straight of the Shanghai track and at that moment Nico's Haas Hulkenberg was returning to the track after completing his pit stop.
The two arrived almost simultaneously at the Safety Car line which determines who has the right to position. The problem is that, having more momentum than the German, the Williams driver had the feeling of having passed there first, so he put himself in front of the Haas.
However, it was Hulkenberg who crossed the line first and so Sargeant was given a 10 second penalty at the end of the race. The American driver, however, complained that neither from the FIA nor from the Grove team wall he had received any indication of the need to give up the position to his rival.
“For me, I thought I was in front. I didn't even think we were close, so for me there was no question. So seeing the penalty at the end of the race was a bit strange. I don't know if the FIA could give us some sort of feedback.”
“We had been under the Safety Car regime for some time, I don't know why they didn't tell me to give up the position. Obviously I would have done it if they had told me, but from my point of view I thought I was in front, also because when two cars they're so far apart (laterally) it's hard to understand these things.”
The penalty dropped him to 17th place in the final standings of the Shanghai race, on a weekend in which he still struggled to extract maximum performance from his Williams.
#Sargeant #disputes #told #return #position
