Logan Sargeant crashed out of the first practice session in Japan, causing a temporary red flag.
The American span out and crashed into the wall at the high-speed Dunlop corner, leaving his car unusable for the rest of the session.
It comes after team-mate Alex Albon committed the same error in Australia, which left Williams with just one car for the GP.
In that scenario, team principal James Vowles opted to have Albon race in Sargeant’s car.
Sargeant was driving the same chassis that Albon crashed in Australia when he lost control in Japan this morning. He said he was ‘okay’ over the team radio.
Logan Sargeant crashed out of P1 in Japan after losing control at the high-speed Dunlop corner
‘It’s pretty significant [the damage],’ Vowles confirmed. ‘The chassis is okay, fortunately, but I would say pretty much everything else isn’t.
‘Suspension all round, gearbox cracked. Big damage.
‘It’s going to be difficult [to get his car ready for P2]. We’ll obviously do our utmost to try and get the car back out there again, but the damage is extensive so it will take a while.
He said he had spoken with his Sargeant. ‘At the top of the brow of the hill, he struggled to see where his position was on the track.
‘It fundamentally looks like he didn’t quite realise where he was with where the grass was on the outside.
‘I’ve been chatting to him al week, all these last few weeks in fact, because this is the main where you’ve got to keep a driver very close to you. You’ve given them a very difficult situation to deal with.
‘But he was honestly in a very good state of mind this week, last night when I called him around 9-10pm, really strong state of mind, just wanted to get back into the car and get going.
Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed there was ‘significant damage’ to the car
‘What you saw here wasn’t a driver making a mistake because I think they were pushing to the limits. It’s a very different kind of mistake and a frustrating one by all account because it wasn’t at the limits of what the car could do. There was far more turning potential.
‘He just didn’t know where the car was on track relative to where he expected it to be.’
Max Verstappen finished with the quickest time in P1, 1:30.056, while his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez was second and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third.
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