Logan Sargeant in fiery crash in Dutch Grand Prix practice

The Williams driver smashed into the wall after clipping the grass during the third practice session of the weekend

Logan Sargeant’s car caught fire after a nasty crash at the Dutch Grand Prix (Getty Images)

Logan Sargeant walked away unharmed after a nasty accident during wet running in practice at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Williams driver, who will be dropped at the end of the season for Carlos Sainz, was driving early on in FP3 – the final session before Saturday qualifying.

Driving out of the banked turn three, Sargeant’s car clipped the grass. The American then instantly lost control as the car flew into the barrier.

The car then skated back onto the track and caught fire, with Sargeantly quickly exiting the stricken cockpit.

With substantial damage to the chassis, Sargeant’s car wasn’t ready for qualifying in the afternoon - meaning he will start Sunday’s race in 20th.

“Qualifying is going to be on us pretty quickly, it’s in a pretty bad state,” Williams boss James Vowles told Sky F1 just after the crash.

“We’ve got to go through in detail what’s been damaged on the car, it looks pretty serious. Logan had to jump out because the car was on fire, he’s in the medical centre but he’s OK.

“You’ve got to compartmentalise what happens. Put that into the box - the real expertise with F1 drivers is that they can typically do that. Once we can do that, we’ll see what he can do tomorrow.”

The American driver walked away unharmed (Getty Images)

Sargeant’s stricken Williams car looks unlikely to be repaired in time for qualifying on Saturday (Getty Images)