The final weekend of the 2023 Formula One season began in Abu Dhabi with no less than ten of the twenty drivers taking to the circuit being juniors. The teams are mandated by the FIA to run each of their cars once a year with a driver with no more than two F1 Grand Prix under their belt.

Abu Dhabi practice one has become a popular time to do this given the session is less representative than most others on the calendar of how the track temperature will be during either qualifying or in the race itself.

 

 

Sargeant criticised throughout the season

AlphaTauri were the only team who had already fulfilled the FIA requirement and ran Ricciardo and Tsunoda as usual while Red Bull  had two junior drivers replacing Verstappen and Perez. The rest fielded one of their regular drivers alongside one of the juniors.

There is just one seat remaining to be confirmed for the 2024 season, being that currently occupied by Logan Sargeant and whilst the Floridian was on track during the first session, Alex Albon gave way for the promising Zak O’Sullivan.

Sargeant has come in for heavy criticism over the season and is the only driver who has failed to out qualify his team mate over the 21 events so far. Further, the American has often found himself in the barrier and been well off the pace of his team mate.

Most F1 observers believed Sargeant would be a one year wonder and was clearly going to be replaced by Williams come next year, though Logan has shown some improvement since scoring his debut points at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Rosberg takes a swipe at Hamilton

 

 

F2 driver standout replacement for Sargeant

Williams’ team principal James Vowles has fielded regular questions about how long the team is prepared to continue with Sargeant and his response has been the same, stating they will appraise the situation come the end of the year.

Of course there’s little more to be learned about Logan than the team already know, but the Abu Dhabi weekend with ten drivers in practice one and the following two days junior test may give Williams valuable insight into those who could replace him.

One name believed to be ranked high on the list is F2 driver Frederik Vesti who is also part of the Mercedes junior driver programme. 

The theory abounds that because Vesti is part of Mercedes stable, that Toto Wolff may pull rank on his customer team and as Ferrari has done in the past with Sauber – force Williams to take Vesti for a year to see how he works out.

Horner sympathises with Hamilton winless streak

 

 

Hamilton sits out practice 1

Vesti was filling in for Lewis Hamilton at the Las Marina circuit and after the session, Wolff spoke highly of his performance describing the F2 title contender as “great” and “reliable”, commenting he also “does a good job” in the simulator.

Yet Toto who is a former shareholder and non-executive director at Williams explained to Damon Hill that Mercedes as the engine supplier would in no way seek to influence the driver decisions Williams will make.

“I was at Williams 12 or 13 years ago. What I always wanted with Frank [Williams] was to take our own decision on drivers with no interference from a big brother,” said Wolff.

“That’s why I always respected that we’ve never had a contract which allows us to put a driver in. It’s in James’ authority to decide.”

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Williams adamant no decision made

Frederik Vesti ended the practice session in twelfth place but just over 7/10ths of a second behind George Russell in the sister Mercedes who topped the time sheets.

Vowles who was part of the Sky F1 broadcast as the pit wall team boss insisted no decision would be made this weekend on the future of Logan Sargeant.

“When you talk about the future of the team and that of a young man, what the future looks like in Formula 1, then I want to make this decision calmly, after the race weekend,” said the Williams chief.

However, despite Sergeants relative improvement a number of F1 over servers still believe he won’t be retained by Williams and despite Wolff’s assurance have Vesti as favourite to partner Alex Albon next year.

Wolff and Vasseur summoned to the FIA stewards

 

 

Vesti favourite to replace Sargeant

Ralph Schumacher who is a driver commentator for Sky Germany said he was surprised the seat at Williams was as yet undecided.

“In Las Vegas I was wondering why James Vowles had not yet confirmed Sargeant for Williams,” he said. “That’s probably because Frederik Vesti is on the wish list and [Vowles] is watching him closely in Abu Dhabi and is also allowed to see his data. ‘Maybe we have to make a decision for next year’.”

A number of the F2 drivers who had competed in the F1 practice session were back in their regular cars minutes after the chequered flag fell on their F1 adventure.

Jack Doohan claimed the pole position during the F2 qualifying session and championship leader Theo Pourchaire is now on the back foot only starting P14 in both Sprint and Feature races.

Comedy series planned with Gunther Steiner

 

 

F2 title going down to the wire

Meanwhile Frederik Vesti will start in the reverse grid Sprint on the front row and in ninth on Sunday, five places ahead of Pourchaire.

Vesti is 25 points behind Pourchaire but with 35 up for grabs over the F2 races this weekend, he has more than a reasonable hope of overhauling the long time championship leader.

Being the F2 champion is a big step towards making it into Formula One though not the final deciding factor. A number of drivers over the years have made the leap between the two categories even though they have not been crowned ate the end of the F2 season.

Pourchaire is part of the Sauber junior academy and even should he win the F2 championship he will not feature for Sauber for the 2024 F1 season. Zhou Guangu who only managed P3 in his final year in F2 but was given his F1 shot has been confirmed for a third year with the team who are destined to become the Audi F1 world team. 

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