The sacking of American driver Logan Sargeant by Williams is no surprise to anyone in and around the paddock. Having replaced Nicholas Latifi Williams had hoped the Florida born driver would bring better results than his Canadian predecessor.

However, during his three years with the team, Latifi claimed a total of nine points while Logan Sargeant well into his second year has just one which he inherited when Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the 2023 US Grand Prix.

To be fair to Logan, Williams have during his two seasons in F1 delivered cars which have performed worse than in Latifi’s time, yet it was the carnage from Sargeant’s crashes which finally tipped the scales not in his favour.

 

 

 

Sargeant crash “inexplicable”

At the recent Netherlands Grand Prix, the final practice session was underway but with damp conditions and a slippery track. Sargeant missed the apex of the corner forcing him to run wide onto the outside kerb. The wet paint caused the Williams driver to slide even further across meaning his right side wheels were fully on the grass.

What happened next, Martin Brundle described as “inexplicable.” Sargeant knowing he was on the grass, kept his foot on the throttle with the expected results. The left hand side of the car gripped up on the asphalt, while the wheels on the other side spun hopelessly out of control. The result saw Logan slam left into the barriers in a spectacular display of shattered carbon fibre and the session was then all but cancelled with the rest of the field just managing a practice start at the end of the session.

This clearly was the incident which ended Logan Sargeant’s F1 career. Team boss James Vowles had already spoken to Sky Sports F1 earlier in the weekend stating he was trying to ensure his driver had a future in “professional motorsport.” Williams have signed Carlos Sainz for next year, so Logan knew the writing was on the wall.

Yet the timing of the Williams move to dismiss Sargeant suggests they were panicked into the decision. Sargeant’s F1 career has been hanging by a thread for some time and had he been benched earlier this season, few would have been surprised.

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Strange timing for Williams decision

However, it would have been far better for all concerned had Williams taken the decision as the summer break approached. This would have given their junior academy driver Franco Colapinto three weeks to become mentally adjusted to being in F1, now he has just a couple of days.

Colapinto cold have put in extra time in the simulator and familiarised himself better with the FW46 whereas now he goes in cold to Free Practice One on Friday in Monza.

The Argentinian’s junior formula results look not much better than those of Logan Sargeant. In his first year in F2 Franco has one victory to his name and he currently lies with in the drivers’ championship.

Williams had other options with which to replace Sargeant with Toto Wolff conducting the cheerleading for Mercedes reserve driver, Mick Schumacher.

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Wolff promotes Mick Schumacher

“I would very much hope that Mick gets the chance, because we haven’t seen the real Mick,” Wolff told assembled media including in Zandvoort when asked who he thought Williams should replace Sargeant with.

“You’re not winning F4, F3 and F2 and you’re underperforming in Formula 1. I think he deserves a chance. I think the opportunity with Williams is something that we would be cheering for.”

Yet Toto speaks with a forked tongue on the Mick Schumacher topic given he is expected to announce academy driver Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for next season – not Mick Schumacher.

Christian Horner too offered to ‘loan’ Williams their protoge Liam Lawson. With five grand prix already under his belt having deputised for Daniel Ricciardo last year, the New Zealander looked favourite to get the drive in the recently heavily upgraded FW46. However, Red Bull is suffering its own crisis at present as McLaren hone in on their lead in the constructors’ championship.

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Red Bull’s problematic ‘clause’

While Sergio Perez was given the vote of confidence at the start of the summer break, the fact Red Bull wanted a condition on the Williams loan which provided them to bring Lawson back if necessary before the end of this year, is also telling.

Speaking on ESPN’s Unlapped podcast, journalist Nate Saunders reveals the moment he knew Sargeant’s future had been decided. One of the many TV replays aired showing the crash and the subsequent fire flicked across to the Williams garage which pictured a number of mechanics with their head in their hands.

Subsequent conversations with team members convinced Saunders they were “done” with Sargeant and the crash was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“That crash of Sargeant’s, with so many upgrades on the car… the first shot of that after he crashed was all of the mechanics who had just been working so hard to improve that team’s fortunes. You knew that they were just fed up and they were done with it. I spoke to people at the team who said similar,” Saunders revealed.

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Sargeant “couldn’t care less”

When asked after the race about the rumours swirling around the paddock that Sargeant was to be sacked, the American looked relaxed adding he “couldn’t care less” given they’ve followed him throughout most of the year so far.

Sargeant’s huge shunt in Zandvoort is not his first of the season with the American crashing at the Canadian Grand Prix in June. Logan collided with Kevin Magnussen in Miami and also crashed during practice at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Colapinto has a short window of opportunity to impress upon the F1 teams, he is a worthy contender for the future. No matter how well he fares, the Argentinian will not be F1 racing in 2025 given just two seats remain to be confirmed, but their occupants are pretty much a done deal.

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FIA ‘exceptions’ for Colapinto super license

The FIA ‘pathway’ from karting to Formula One was completed in 2017 with the rebranding of the GP2/3 series and the creation of F2 as the second tier of single seater racing category below F1. Yet it remains a mystery why the winner of this championship doesn’t not always get an opportunity at motorsport’s top table.

The ladder worked well for Charles Leclerc who won the inaugural F2 title in 2017 and for George Russell who repeated the feat a year later. Then 2019 winner Nyck de Vries failed to make the leap and was forced to consider other forms of racing.

The young Dutch driver did get his opportunity with Alpha Tauri but high expectations followed by disappointing results saw De Vries replaced by Daniel Ricciardo after just ten race weekends of the 2023 season… READ MORE