Williams team principal James Vowles says driver Logan Sargeant will have to show “progress” through the season if he is to remain with the team.
Sargeant is in his second year in Formula 1 with Williams after his rookie campaign in 2023.Although the former Williams junior driver scored his maiden points at the United States Grand Prix, he finished the season with 26 fewer points than more experienced team mate Alexander Albon. The 23-year-old also made some significant errors throughout last year, resulting in several crashes, and was never able to out-qualify Albon once throughout 2023.
Despite this, Williams retained him for a second season in 2024. Vowles says that Sargeant will not be expected to achieve major results in the early phase of the season.
“It’s important to him to get good results,” Vowles said. “The only thing I would say is it’s not the early on bit.
“What we have to see from him is progress as we continue on. ‘Early on’ implies that there’s a risk if he’s not performing after three races that something will happen, and that’s simply not the case.”
Sargeant suffered a car problem in the season-opening race in Bahrain, leaving him last, before finishing 14th last weekend in Saudi Arabia, three places behind his team mate.
With 24 grands prix under Sargeant’s belt already, Vowles says he expects his driver to show continued improvement over his second season.
“In the case of Logan, he knows that he finished last year starting to build on what he had as an experience base, and he’s coming back here not as a rookie now, but someone that has years of experience behind him,” Vowles said.
“He’s got to build on that without mistakes, without error, and continually move forward.”
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Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
16th March 2024, 12:59
You’ve been giving us this waffle for many months now James.
I think we all understand that you will keep up this pretence just as long as the team needs the money.
You have a genuine fighter in Alex, and it would be awesome to see Williams grab one of the talented Rookies on offer just now to help get Williams back up the field.
Or will you sell Alex to Mercedes, and get another poor little rich kid to bring in the dollars?
An Sionnach
16th March 2024, 13:35
Surely it would be a good thing for Mercedes’ supposed fightback if they were to poach Lawson and put him in with Albon? They need to be lining up drivers who can win if they ever deliver a car that can. It would be bad to have a situation like Williams did between 1994 and 1997 where they had the best car, but their drivers struggled. George has potential, but he’s a maybe. I’m sure there’s a lot going on in the background and Lewis moving should mean huge change next year. The best solution would be Max, but that goes without saying, and it’s not just money that will attract him. Then, perhaps Alonso for a few years and to poach Lawson and perhaps bring Kimi in later. Like Ferrari, Mercedes now needs a proper project, where they rebuild and seek the best employees from their competitors. That should not only improve things at Mercedes, but destabilise the opposition. I’m far from a Mercedes fan, but it’s annoying to see almost all the teams in F1 flounder so badly. The rules have become so restrictive around testing and innovation that it’s becoming Formula None.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th March 2024, 16:39
@nullapax No team is in need of sponsor money from drivers these days anymore thanks to being financially stable.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th March 2024, 16:45
And if they needed money that badly, surely they’d have kept latifi, who has a billionaire father.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th March 2024, 20:05
@esploratore1 Indeed, which was my point already when his departure became official.
They definitely would’ve kept him regardless his performance level since he was a so-called pay driver, unlike Sargeant & as the latter is clearly in their long-term plans, they’d sack him, even after season 2, only if he gave a strong justification.
Dex
16th March 2024, 13:01
And why does he expect progress? Is wishful thinking part of modern management?
Nick T.
16th March 2024, 23:15
Yes. As we’ve seen. Good drivers let alone great ones are always good straight out of the box. FA, LH, MV, KR, MSC, etc., etc., were capable of winning WDCs in their rookie year. So, waiting for Logan to improve enough to be worth keeping is hopeless.
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th March 2024, 8:22
Means he needs to gather points for the team this year otherwise he loses his seat.
An Sionnach
16th March 2024, 13:18
He may be improving a little, but let’s see. It’s frustrating that drivers who’ve shown immediate promise like Lawson and Bearman must wait on the sidelines. I’d like to see at least one more season of Mick in a better car, but he is at the back of this queue. There are a number of drivers lucky to be driving in F1 this year. Perhaps part of that luck is that they’re not bad enough to risk going for someone with no experience, or they come with irresistible backing (with an engine being part of the package, for example). The lack of testing and such a small grid will cause F1 to wither.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th March 2024, 16:47
Surely mick schumacher can’t be worse than sargeant!
An Sionnach
16th March 2024, 20:17
Mick is much better than Sargeant. He failed to finish once in 2021 due to an error (Saudi). There were two races compromised by error in 2022, including Saudi again, where he took too much kerb and hit the wall hard in qualifying. On top of that, there was the embarrassing practice crash in Japan, where he made an error in the wet as he did in Monaco. He finished ahead of Magnussen 13/22 races, with Magnussen finishing ahead eight times (in one race neither of them finished). Magnussen didn’t finish four times, but only one of these was his fault (France). Magnussen’s 5th place in the first race of the season counted for much of their points difference.
I had meant that while I think Mick deserves another go, Lawson and Bearman should get in first. I may have been wrong about Bearman though, since he’s only been involved in one race. That said, it was the one that gave Mick the most trouble. Bearman was also under pressure from Lando and Hamilton, which has to mean a lot!
The trouble is that Sargeant is already in there. I think his time in F1 has to reach a more natural conclusion than Mick’s did. Franz Tost’s assertion that a new driver could do with three years given the lack of testing should be more than fair. In Sargeant’s case, his first year was so bad, that two should be enough if his second year follows a similar trajectory to the first.
Hopefully Lawson, Bearman and Mick can return next year. There are enough drivers treading water that this should be a possibility. The trouble is that two of them (Stroll and Tsunoda) are unfirable. There may be five others under pressure, but I think they all have the capacity to deliver.
Nick T.
16th March 2024, 23:16
I don’t rate Mick highly, but he’s worlds better than Logan. Even at his worst, he wasn’t as off the pace as Logan.
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th March 2024, 8:24
I would agree with you as Mick isn’t bad just above average.
Horndog
16th March 2024, 13:18
A sensible team principal would expect to see “progress” in a drivers first season like Piastri was able to show. I think even a rookie driver has to out-qualify and out-race a more seasoned and experienced teammate at least once in a season to show they have what it takes to be a serious contender in Formula 1.
Piastri was able to do that despite also still being beaten by his highly regarded teammate. Sargeant showed nothing of the sort and appears to be just as far away now from Albon as he was last season.
Tristan
16th March 2024, 14:47
2-4 tenths across all sessions so far, not looking good for Logan… I hope he gets the mid season boot if he doesn’t improve and we get to see a fresh face. Could be good for Antonelli to get used to F1 of he were to otherwise go straight to Mercedes as a rookie.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
16th March 2024, 15:57
Williams has two of its own academy drivers in F2, I’d rather see either of them get the drive rather than taking whoever Mercedes demands.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th March 2024, 16:41
@red-andy Indeed. Independent teams serving others is a past thing in F1 generally, not to mention the associated risks with rookies/inexperienced drivers, especially stop-gap ones, which is something that also makes teams vary these days.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th March 2024, 16:38
Season 2 definitely needs to be better as a whole than Season 1, but plenty of time & race remaining, so too early for any judgments.
For starters, though, reaching Q2 should be achievable.
Nick T.
16th March 2024, 23:18
Two races is usually enough to judge the potential of a rookie. If he was fast, but wild that’d be one thing. He’s slow AND crash prone. He’s a clearly hopeless case. Sure, given endless seasons he could maybe hope to reach the level of Stroll.
Denis (@denis1304)
17th March 2024, 9:45
Is “progress” the same as money in a bank account?