SUZUKA, Japan — Williams appeared to have dodged a second consecutive Formula One race weekend with just one car in action despite Logan Sargeant’s crash out of first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Sargeant, driving the repaired chassis which was broken by teammate Alex Albon at the Australian Grand Prix, crashed through the uphill Dunlop section of the race track, raising fears of further damage.

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The team’s initial assessment was that Sargeant’s chassis had survived the accident, although it left Williams with a hefty repair job.

Williams will not have a spare chassis for its drivers until the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.

“It’s pretty significant,” team boss James Vowles said of the damage. “The chassis is OK, fortunately, but I would says pretty much everything else isn’t. So suspension all-round, gearbox cracked, big damage.”

The damage meant Sargeant took no part in second practice on Friday, with Williams working to fix the car in time for final practice and qualifying on Saturday.

The incident will likely raise bigger questions about the American driver’s confidence after the events which followed teammate Albon’s crash in Friday practice at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit last month.

After Albon’s crash left the team with one chassis, Sargeant’s race was effectively sacrificed so his teammate could take part in the event.

Albon has out-scored Sargeant 27-1 since they became teammates and Williams reason the Thai had a better chance of scoring a top-ten finish.

Vowles downplayed the suggestion Sargeant’s Suzuka crashed hinted that he was having a crisis of confidence after the events of two weeks ago.

“I’ve been chatting to him all week, all these last few weeks in fact, because this is the point you’ve got to keep a driver very close to you,” Vowles said. “You’ve given them a very difficult situation to deal with, through no fault of their own, but he was honestly in a very good state of mind this week and last night again when I called him around 9-10pm, really, really strong state of mind.

“He just wanted to get back into the car and get going, but not with the intention of proving to the world that he deserves his seat, just his normal approach to things. What you saw here wasn’t a driver making a mistake because I think they were pushing to the limit, it’s a very different type of mistake.

“A very frustrating one by all accounts because it wasn’t on the limit of what the car could do, there was far more turning potential in there, he just didn’t know where the car was on track relative to where he expected it to be anyway. So I don’t think you’re seeing there the reaction of someone who wasn’t driving in Melbourne, I think you’re seeing more just a situation that could have appeared anytime.”