Factors behind Williams F1’s decision to continue Logan Sargent[F1-Gate.com]

Williams Racing has signed Logan Sargent for a second season alongside Alex Albon. Formula1.com correspondent Lawrence Barrett examines why the British team chose to hire an American driver.

Sargent was under pressure after the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, having not scored a single point. His teammate Albon scored 21 points at that stage and single-handedly put Williams into seventh place in the constructors’ championship.

Monza’s Temple of Speed ​​was one of the tracks Williams had marked as a potential point-scoring track, with the slippery car theoretically adept at Italy’s long straights. It was supposed to be. However, Sargent was again unable to score, putting pressure on the American driver externally.

Internally, team principal Bowles was calm. He supported Sargent throughout the season, choosing an “arms around his shoulders” approach rather than criticizing him publicly.

But the former Mercedes player told Sargent he needed to improve to keep his seat and gave him until the end of the season to prove he was worthy of it.

Sargent scores first career points in Austin

To be fair to Sargent, he has coped well with the increasing pressure and has had some costly crashes, such as the Japanese Grand Prix, but the data shows he is on an upward curve and his final It was his first point in his home country. This is the first point scored by an American in F1 in 30 years.

From then on, the 22-year-old gained confidence and took an impressive 7th place in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He was unable to translate that into points, but sources said internal data showed he had closed the gap to Albon in race pace.

Ultimately, that’s what the team wanted from him. And Sargent has proven he can withstand the enormous pressure that comes with competing in F1.

The team was also keen to prove the value of the driver academy Sargent went through to earn his F1 seat. Supporting him through a challenging first year will be a great addition to our goal of developing young talent and taking a long-term view, as we have been impressed with what he has shown in the program previously. Shows commitment.

It also helped that he had no competition in his seat. Williams is believed to have approached Felipe Dolgovic, the 2022 F2 champion and Aston Martin’s reserve driver this season, but it seems they have decided that the Brazilian driver is not suitable for the seat. .

Sources say Mick Schumacher, who was Mercedes’ reserve driver this season, was not considered a genuine option. This year’s F2 champion Theo Pourcher was also not a candidate. As for Frédéric Vesty, who is second in the rankings, Mercedes has decided that it is too early.

Considering all of this, keeping Sargent makes the most sense.

After making a major update at the Canadian Grand Prix, the eighth round of the 2023 season, Williams made the bold decision to halt development of the car to focus on the 2024 car.

This proved to be a wise decision as they retained seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship, three places higher than in 2022, despite their rivals continuing to update until the final race. It was done. Williams hopes next year’s car will deliver another positive step in terms of performance.

By retaining Sargent, Williams will have a driver who knows the team well and, with a good pre-season, will be in a position to get the most out of the new car and will be valuable in the early races. There should also be a chance to earn points.

F1 is a tough business and it’s incredibly difficult to make a difference in the first year with very little testing. Many on the team feel Sargent deserves another year to prove himself. If the team takes the steps expected, he should have a car that can regularly fight for points. In fact, AlphaTauri, to which Hiroki Tsunoda belongs, has given rookies a three-year grace period.

So Sargent’s challenge is to make that happen and prove not only that Williams were right to keep him, but that he has a real future in F1 beyond 2024.

Category: F1 / williams racing / Logan Sargent