‘Oh my god’…20-year-old rookie nearly has ‘biggest accident’ of his life in FP1 after scary near miss

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Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan had a particularly scary moment involving Williams race Logan Sargeant during the first practice session of the weekend in Abu Dhabi.

The Australian driver was quick to get on the radio to relay what happened to his team.

There’s never normally much interest in the practice sessions before Formula 1 races.

However, Free Practice 1 in Abu Dhabi saw half the grid make way for inexperienced drivers to take to the track.

There were plenty of current F2 drivers on track ahead of their final Grand Prix of the season.

Both title challengers Theo Pourchaire and Frederic Vesti were competing for Alfa Romeo and Mercedes respectively.

Slightly further down the F2 standings is Jack Doohan and he was replacing Esteban Ocon in the Alpine.

Doohan is highly-rated but might have a few choice words to say to Logan Sargeant after practice.

The American driver – who was one of the more experienced drivers on the grid for once – didn’t see the 20-year-old in his mirrors.

That led to a very scary moment for Doohan who won’t forget his latest experience in a Formula 1 in a hurry.

Doohan nearly clashes with Sargeant in Abu Dhabi practice

Going around the last corner of the Yas Marina circuit, Sargeant was going slowly on the racing line with Doohan on a quick lap.

The Australian has seen him at the last moment and dived to the inside, but Sargeant has followed him to try and get off the racing line.

Both drivers managed to avoid each other, but Doohan wasn’t happy, going on the radio and saying: “I almost had the biggest accident of my life. Oh my god”

Sargeant was quick to apologise and said: “Doohan was too late, I’m sorry.”

Analysing the incident, Anthony Davidson explained: “Logan basically wasn’t looking in his mirror, he hadn’t been told by the team that he had a car coming. I don’t think he was coming into the pits. If you were at that speed, you would be a lot further to the right-hand side.

“He swung at the last minute and thought well I’ll get off the racing line and try and let him through on the outside but the speed that Jack [Doohan] was catching him, he had to go to the inside. Words will be said about that.”

Davidson went on to say that he thinks Sargeant was told about Doohan too late, rather than blaming him for the incident that would have almost certainly brought out a red flag during practice.

The chances are that Doohan won’t be on the F1 grid in 2024, although Sargeant is the only current driver that hasn’t had his contract extended.

Williams team principal James Vowles explained during the session that he wants to wait until the end of the year before making a final decision.

The 10 rookies on track might have had a thought in the back of their heads that they could nick that seat off Sargeant with a good performance.

The American did himself no favours by nearing taking out Doohan during the session.