During the safety car period to clear Valtteri Bottas’s stopped car, Sargeant was driving down the start-finish straight towards Turn 1 while his rival emerged from the pits with new tires.
Hulkenberg, the rival driver, reached the safety car line just a bit ahead of Sargeant. However, because of Sargeant’s speed and momentum, he thought he had reached the line first and moved ahead of Hulkenberg.
But Sargeant didn’t hear from his team or the race officials about needing to give the position back. After the race restarted, he was given a 10-second penalty for what was considered an illegal pass.
Sargeant said it was difficult to judge the situation as he approached the first corner. He explained, “It’s hard to see when cars are far apart, especially with the elevation. I thought I was way ahead, so I didn’t think there was any problem. It was surprising to hear about the penalty at the end of the race. I wish the FIA could give us feedback during the race.”
The penalty dropped Sargeant to 17th place in the final results. He had a tough weekend with his Williams car, struggling to find consistent performance. He had to start from the pit lane because of a major setup change before the race.
Although he had a strong start on soft tires and was doing well on medium tires, the timing of the safety car didn’t work in his favor. He had trouble with the hard tires, which made his race difficult.
Sargeant said, “There were good and bad moments. The start on soft tires was good, and we were doing well on medium tires. But the safety car didn’t help us. Putting on the hard tires was a mistake, as I couldn’t get them to work properly. It made the race very difficult for me. Hopefully, we can improve in the future.”
