Williams have withdrawn Logan Sargeant from the Australian Grand Prix in order to let his team mate race his car.
The team is unable to repair the chassis Alexander Albon crashed during the first practice session for the race today. As they have not brought a spare chassis to Melbourne, they only have one FW46 left for the remainder of the weekend.Team principal James Vowles said he chose to give Sargeant’s car to Albon “based on our best potential to score points this weekend.” Albon was the team’s top scorer last year, taking 27 points to Sargeant’s one, enough to single-handedly put Williams seventh in the constructors’ championship.
Vowles, who took charge at the team at the beginning of last season, admitted it was “unacceptable” the team had insufficient parts for the third round of the championship to have a spare car on hand.
“We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend,” he said. “It’s unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis, but it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future.
“As a result, we have had some very difficult decisions to make this afternoon. While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend.
“This decision was not made lightly, and we cannot thank Logan enough for his graceful acceptance, demonstrating his dedication to the team; he is a true team player. This will prove a tough weekend for Williams, and this situation is not one that we will put ourselves in again.”
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Sargeant, whose best result so far this season is 14th, said agreeing to stand down was “the hardest moment I can remember in my career.”
Albon, who scored the team’s best result of the season to date with 11th place in Jeddah two weeks ago, admitted he felt conflicted about replacing his team mate.
“No driver would want to give up his seat. I would never want anything like this to happen. Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won’t be an easy one for him to take.
“At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximise our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible.”
The crash occured 40 minutes into the first practice session of the day. Albon said he was surprised by his car’s reaction when he ran wide on a kerb between turns six and seven.
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“I was just exploring it a little bit and went a bit wide,” he explained. “I had a bit of an aggressive kerb strike and it lifted up the front.
“I honestly didn’t think anything of it at the time. I thought, okay, it’s fine, I’ll just back out and let the car land. But when I did land, I bottomed out pretty badly and when it bottomed out, it just kind of spat me.”
The team is returning Albon’s damaged chassis to their base in Grove, UK for repairs. The next round of the season takes place in Suzuka, Japan in two weeks’ time.
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2024 Australian Grand Prix
- Alonso calls Australian GP penalty a ‘one-off I’ve had too many of’
- Red Bull saw warning sign of Australian GP brake problem on Saturday – Verstappen
- Failing to punish Alonso would have “opened a can of worms” – Russell
- Leclerc sure “many team principals” are pursuing Sainz for 2025 seat
- “Don’t put me under pressure” – The best unheard team radio from Melbourne
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 9:45
Wow, not having a 3rd chassis ready and available – yeah, that REALLY underlines the mess this team is in with production and management of production flows. Brutal for Sargeant, but yeah, Albon clearly is their best bet for trying to get a point if anything happens to some of the top 5 teams.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
22nd March 2024, 10:06
But hey, it’s Williams. They have history. They have heritage. They are the plucky British garagistas taking on the might of the evil foreign manufacturers!!
Mr B
22nd March 2024, 11:55
Can anyone remember the last time a team damaged a chassis so badly that it couldn’t be used or repaired for that race? It doesn’t seem to happen often and certainly not for an accident as ‘relatively’ innocuous as Albon’s in Australia.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
22nd March 2024, 12:12
Stroll last year.
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 10:55
It’s quite the embarrassing situation.
Maybe a few years in F2 will allow DoriltonF1 to sort their things out.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd March 2024, 9:55
I can’t really be surprised in the end, but still an illogical & unfair decision despite Alex being the better-performing because he ultimately caused this entire situation rather than Logan, so penalizing for a teammate’s error is totally unfair on him, especially as he critically needs race distances to gain experience & generally improve, so I’m disappointed James doesn’t have the guts to tell Alex tough luck for making such an unforced error in a non-competitive session.
The fact they have to switch between PU & gearbox allocation components & thus voluntarily cause themselves added inconvenience only strengthens the illogicality of temporarily changing the garage side for the sake of changing.
However, not having a spare monocoque on site in the first place, even as a one-off thing, is equally inexcusable in the modern era for any team.
someone or something
22nd March 2024, 10:22
Illogical only if you assume that they primarily care about justice. They don’t. They’re a struggling F1 team desperate to score points. Even if Albon didn’t exactly cover himself with glory by crashing so heavily, he’s his team’s best chance of scoring points by far. Sidelining him when he’s able to drive – that would be illogical.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
22nd March 2024, 10:30
Unfair, maybe – illogical, no
notagrumpyfan
22nd March 2024, 10:35
The FOM $ millions are based on the final points tally at the end of the season.
I’d also put Albon in the single car to maximise the opportunity to get points.
Sargeant showed them more than 20 races to support this ‘logic’.
I’m interested though what Sargeant’s contract says though, and possible implications related to the financial support agreement from his family and friends.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd March 2024, 11:34
someone or something @ahxshades notagrumpyfan
The irony would be if he ultimately ended up getting eliminated in Q1 & finishing in the P15-20 range.
Additionally, he isn’t a so-called pay driver like his predecessor, for example.
someone or something
22nd March 2024, 12:11
Yeah, of course Williams’ plan can backfire, or fail to produce any meaningful result. But the underlying consideration is unaffected. Virtually no one is expecting Sargeant to perform on Albon’s level. Fielding Sargeant instead of Albon would be a capitulation.
Now, why do Williams have a line-up that loses 99% of its competitiveness when the wrong driver is out?
Sargeant may not be an obvious pay driver, but most observers would probably agree that he’s not in the seat for showing such great promise. His nationality (and the resulting marketability) seems to have been a deciding factor in signing him and then extending his contract after a thoroughly underwhelming first season.
Today’s decision confirms that Williams do not believe in Sargeant’s potential to contribute in a meaningful way, and, considering there have only been two unremarkable race weekends since his contract extension, that they never did.
dot_com (@dot_com)
22nd March 2024, 12:27
Well then he would have done no worse than Logan.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 12:43
The real irony would be if Albon crashed in the race @jerejj.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
22nd March 2024, 13:29
The real irony would be if he stuffed it in the wall in Q1
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 14:08
Surprised you’re so against albon, the thing is he has a possibility to get into the points, no matter the risk of crash; sargeant risks crashing too, but with the difference in a normal race he will never make it into the points.
someone or something
22nd March 2024, 9:58
Sensible decision, but oh boy, I do not want to feel what Sargeant is feeling right now.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
22nd March 2024, 13:18
“Logan, it’s James…”
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd March 2024, 14:24
Also consider the crew at the track and the people working like fiends at the factory only to see half the garage silent during a Grand Prix. Humiliating for all of them. I would be updating my LinkedIn if I worked for that organization.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
22nd March 2024, 10:09
Teams running on a shoestring and running short of spare parts was supposed to have been put behind us. The idea that new competitors can’t ‘add value’ to this shambles has just been solidly put to bed.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 14:06
Indeed, that is one of the most ridiculous justifications I’ve seen to not let new teams in.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd March 2024, 10:12
I understand why they’ve done it but boy does this feel like the definition of setting yourself up for fall.
I wonder if Sargeant pointed out to Vowles that Albon has now crashed twice in his last 13 laps around Albert Park.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
22nd March 2024, 10:17
I mean, I kind of understand that they realize Albon has a chance of points even if he’s a risk of crashing around this circuit. They need every chance of a point they can get.
But on the other hand, we’re in race 3 of the season and you’ve just told one of your drivers: “Yeah, we know the other guy crashed his own car, but why don’t just take a seat over there at the back of the garage, because we value him driving way more than you so we’re giving you his car for the race of the weekend. Make sure you don’t get in the way of the engineers, okay?” Like yikes. That’s his confidence gone for the rest of the season. Might as well pass him his pink slip while he’s back there fuming right now, rather than waiting until the end of the season.
Avro Anson (@avroanson)
22nd March 2024, 11:12
Harsh but fair in my view. Based on his performance over the last year, Sargeant is lucky to have a seat at all. Prior to this debacle, I was thinking Williams should give the seat to a promising newcomer, but really, who would want it?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 14:03
You’re being too harsh on williams: if you put a driver equal or even just a little worse than albon in the 2nd seat they wouldn’t do this.
They only did this because there’s an abyss between the 2.
It’s a bit like those saying leclerc would be treated as number 2 at ferrari: he simply outperformed vettel and became number 1.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 14:01
Because sargeant is expected to score how many points this season with his confidence up, 1? With his confidence dented he might score 0, but albon could score more from a single race.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd March 2024, 11:51
Ouch. Not sure about this decision at all. Does it do either driver any favours? Risks demoralizing Sargeant and makes things awkward (and maybe pressurized) for Albon who avoids the consequences of his own error but then cannot afford to do the same again without, like you say, making the team look like they made a huge mistake.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 14:05
If you end the race 14th or you crash out from 10th, you still score 0 points, and you might also not crash.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
22nd March 2024, 10:14
In 2019 Williams were late to pre-season testing and when they finally arrived to Barcelona, their “car” was literally falling apart while driving on the racing line. Their Mercedes junior Russell got the best possible parts and Mercedes-quality engines, while Kubica was using all the scrapyard parts and second hand engines. During the Russian Grand Prix Claire Williams even decided to retire completely “healthy” Kubica’s car in the wake of spare parts shortage (race 16 out of 21!) and then said every team would have done the same (but somehow nobody did it, funny, isn’t it?). Kubica was having problems with his “car” all season long, like it pulling to one side while braking, hence the 19-0.
Fast forward to 2024 and James Vowles said it’s absolutely fine they were late to pre-season testing, because they were pushing the performance until the last possible moment, like Red Bull used to do. Round 3 of the championship and we see the reality – lack of a spare chassis and now Vowles admits they were lagging with development during winter period.
Why is nobody calling them out and holding them accountable? What’s the reason behind it? Why is Chandhok calling it “James Vowles showing strong and bold leadership by getting the driver who has the most chance of scoring on the grid.” rather than “James Vowles showing weak and cowardly leadership by not getting the 3rd chassis ready for the season”?
Asd
22nd March 2024, 10:50
Wow, thanks for that story, AE! Damn, that must’ve been so frustrating for Robert.
anon
22nd March 2024, 11:18
Asd, there are some questions that have been raised about that narrative around Kubica though and about whether some of those claims might have been exaggerated by those with a pro-Kubica agenda.
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 11:03
We all know, don’t we? These are all ‘good lads’.
American teams need to fight for wins to join, but English outfits are praised for stringing together a single raceworthy car.
AllTheCoolNamesWereTaken
22nd March 2024, 10:15
A bit of wishful thinking there, @keithcollantine? :-)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:57
Ahah, while reading you’d think albon is a hero!
GeeMac (@geemac)
22nd March 2024, 10:16
As a long-suffering Williams fan, who sees the light at the end of the tunnel I hasten to add, this is a bit of a sucker punch. It couldn’t have been easy to make the decision, bit Albon clearly has the better chance of getting points despite the shunt. Hopefully it pays off.
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
22nd March 2024, 10:24
Wonder if the decision not to bring a spare chassis is linked to the cost cap? If the cost of transporting the spare chassis has to be paid for within the cost cap, Management probably took a gamble that the drivers wouldn’t heavily crash and that this money would have been better spent on aero development instead.
ozzmosis
22nd March 2024, 10:51
From the article it sounds like they don’t have one to bring. I suspect the cost of bringing a spare chassis is very low compared to what it costs (both in time and money) to actually build it.
Craig
22nd March 2024, 11:10
Still if the reason does involve the budget cap then that’s another problem it’s caused.
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 11:28
The other teams all have a spare chassis. If this was a deliberate risk, it’d just be a case of ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’. More likely, they simply don’t have one. The quote makes it a bit vague if they mean that they don’t have one here in Australia, or don’t have one at all – but the latter seems more likely given the rest of the quote is about all the other problems they’ve had.
It’s not really a problem with the regulations if only one team has a problem.
someone or something
22nd March 2024, 12:15
But it’s a huge, unrealistic, if. We don’t even have a shred of evidence to base this speculation on.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 12:47
Given the issues with their production planning Vowles mentioned before and given that this is the THIRD race of the year, and the second track in a row with a high risk of crashes, I would think it’s simply that they just haven’t finished building a third chassis.
A chassis is a pretty elaborate part to build with lots of structural parts, so it probably takes a while to do. If they struggled to get all the parts together for the cars before the season, maybe they had to put the laid up, half finished 3rd chassis aside simply to get other parts on the cars in time.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
22nd March 2024, 15:11
That is a very stupid bet in the first place, and if you absolutely have to take it, Albert Park seems like a really bad place to do so.
Sham (@sham)
22nd March 2024, 10:27
Lots of pressure on Albon now, and Sargeant must be feeling pretty low.
A sad state of affairs for a team not to have a 3rd chassis available by the 3rd race of the year, lets be honest.
dragoll (@dragoll)
22nd March 2024, 10:50
While everyone is talking about how unlucky Sargeant is, ultimately, I think this just underlines just how poorly he has been performing. His own team doesn’t believe in his ability. At this point, Logan would feel completely isolated, the team feels like they have to put their faith in what they view is their only option, but this all comes down to choices in the driver lineup… Is Logan there because of his pace or his money?
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 10:58
Does driving in F1 at the back end of the grid really matter that much? Enough to put up with this? If this is how the people you’re supposed to work with think about you, how much confidence does that give someone still very much learning how this all works? Sargeant would probably do himself a huge favour to join up with one of the many American teams competing in either Indycar or IMSA/WEC.
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd March 2024, 11:31
Yes it is. It’s like asking is it worth being on the faculty at Oxford as an adjunct when you can have tenure at UNC-Wilmington. It’s the goal of every driver from the first time they sit in a kart.
rprp
22nd March 2024, 14:56
Sargeant is lucky he even has a seat this year. He has done nothing to prove he deserves it, and this year hasn’t shown any improvement. If being in F1 didn’t matter that much, he’d be off doing something else where he might be more successful.
Derek Edwards
22nd March 2024, 11:16
Those with (very) long memories will think back to France 1984 when Ligier withdrew Francois Hesnault’s car before the race so that the other car could start. I think De Cesaris was disqualified from first qualifying because his fire extinguisher was empty, and then second quali was wet so he didn’t set a representative time. In the end they withdrew a driver from his home GP so that his team mate could start from last!
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
22nd March 2024, 11:30
Well looks I was wrong in my comment below, and those circumstances seem even more bizarre (the fact that De Cesaris could replace his teammate after failing to qualify, and also I looked up and Ligier gave up a 14th grid position for 26th).
Derek Edwards
22nd March 2024, 11:47
It was bizarre. Ligier would probably have said that De Cesaris was more likely to get a good result, but from 26th? I think it was more to do with the fact that he was very well funded, let’s say.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:49
Reminds me of that suspicious pit stop one of stroll’s team mates had (either perez or hulkenberg), which seemed like it was unnecessary and ended up having stroll end in front of team mate.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
22nd March 2024, 15:16
DeCesaris brought money. Not saying it was a factor, but…
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
22nd March 2024, 11:21
This is probably unprecedented, right? One driver withdrawing from the race so that their teammate can compete. Only thing I can think of that might be comparable would be like the 1998 Belgian GP when teams had to decide who to send out in the spare car when both got damaged, but that decision was much more… lets say, reasonable.
Tommy Scragend
22nd March 2024, 13:34
It used to happen in the dim and distant F1 past, but I can’t remember an instance for a while.
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd March 2024, 11:29
Andretti would have had enough spare parts.
This is embarrassing for F1 as a sport.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 13:10
pretty much. maybe even to Sir Frank himself.
sumedh
22nd March 2024, 11:34
Its time we let Andretti on to the grid. At least they might have a 3rd chassis ready in such situation.
Peter707
22nd March 2024, 11:43
Considering that Albon lost control and crashed both last year and this year, and how embarrassing the smallest mistake would be while driving Sargeant’s car, he will definitely be extra careful and I really doubt his pace will be much better than Sergeant’s.
I don’t think it is worth the harm that the decision may cause to the team’s image.
Dusty
22nd March 2024, 11:43
Sargent is like “wth? I paod for this seat!”
Dusty
22nd March 2024, 11:44
Sargent is like “wth? I paid for this seat!”
CarWars (@maxv)
22nd March 2024, 12:22
he will get a discount voucher
David BR (@david-br)
22nd March 2024, 11:53
So Williams are saying they have only one car now and only one driver they actually believe in?
Not a good look.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:45
A worse look to be is having sargeant drive out of the points for all race and having albon sit out.
Sargeant got a miracle 2nd season, he should be out by now, so he doesn’t have much chance to complain about this.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
22nd March 2024, 19:19
I disagree. The only good look for Williams would be if Albon could somehow snatch a point or two. And even that could hurt more in the long run by creating an unpleasant workplace with one driver demotivated, creating an and the other one embarrassed.
Pete
22nd March 2024, 11:54
Right… so as much as they pretend that Sargeant is in the car because they think he’s a good driver, this is them admitting that they don’t really think that. They can phrase it as “Albon has more chance of getting points” but in reality, they’re saying “Sargeant has no chance of getting points so what have we got to lose?”
The only other team on the grid who would potentially do the same thing is Red Bull and that’s because they also pretend that their number 2 is worthy of his seat when it’s clear to everyone (including themselves) that he isn’t.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
22nd March 2024, 11:58
Why, so he can crash it at turn 6 again…? I jest, but this does feel a little unjust.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 12:10
it woulbe sweet irony if he did. kinda hoping for it. Sargent deserves his ride, voweles is an idiot.
Frank
22nd March 2024, 12:06
Out of curiosity: Can anyone explain how the rules regarding the limited number of parts you can use, work in these cases?
Are they linked to the car or to the driver (or, somehow, both and either?)
F.e. I am thinking of the following 2 scenarios
– The car of my lead driver is in need of a new part. This would result in a grid penalty. Can I switch the drivers such that the second driver incurs the penalty?
– The car of my second driver is in need of a new part. This would result in a grid penalty? Can I put my reserve driver into that car to avoid that penaly?
Common sense would dictate that neither would be allowed, but what do the rules say? And what are the current implications on ALbon and Sargeant?
falken (@falken)
22nd March 2024, 12:16
To the driver.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 12:48
Exactly. It means that the team will now have to take the engine and gearbox, energy storage etc out of Sargeant’s car and put Albon’s parts in there so that the allocation still fits.
Frank
22nd March 2024, 17:03
Does this then also mean that a team could alternate a seat between the maximum number of drivers, each having their own set of 4 allocated engines? If allocation is indeed purely driver-based, you can cut the necessary lifespan of your engines by exploiting that..
In a WDC fight, this strategy makes no sense, but if you are fighting for WCC points…(and if you have a capable driver like f.e. Lawson at hand)
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 12:07
cant wait to see albon crashout of q3 and retire, what a bad call.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 12:07
*q1
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:32
Again, what stops sargeant from crashing? At least albon can be in the points if he doesn’t crash, sargeant can’t.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 20:30
no, the team called Williams cannot afford to be in F1, they won’t be able to get much of anything this year. Also Sargent was given a parts bin of a car last year, racing with broken parts, etc… The team is in shambles. It used to be pretty spiffy, but Toto pulled out and they went straight to the back of the grid. One wonders if that was some payoff for a ‘vote’ back in the day concerning this craptastic formula.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
22nd March 2024, 12:07
All this does is emphatically reinforce Williams has no confidence in Sargeant leading the team or his ability to score points, and is essentially calling time on his F1 career.
It’s understandable they’d feel Albon is their strongest chance for points, and thus understandable they’d swap the car. What is now not understandable, is why Sargeant is in the car at all as his own team just made the case against him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:33
A driver can be considered good enough for number 2 but not for number 1, so when this arises, he has to give up his car, now I don’t think sargeant is good enough as number 2 even, but just because they gave the car to albon it doesn’t mean they want to fire him.
CarWars (@maxv)
22nd March 2024, 12:19
Effectively Sargeant has to perform better then this would not be happening. Redbull would do the same with Perez if Max his car was written off and they had no spare. Can see it happen at Ferrari as well with Sainz.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:30
Maybe red bull wouldn’t do that nowadays since no competition, but williams are in a different position.
Jack
22nd March 2024, 12:21
On paper this is right but James has basically said he and the team have no faith in Logan.
The pressure is now on for Alex to score a point this weekend otherwise James has just opened a can of worms for no reason.
JIckx
22nd March 2024, 12:23
So if Albon crashes again, we have an F1 team without F1 cars…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:29
And sargeant never crashed in his life obviously.
Mohammad Reza (@reza-pratama24)
22nd March 2024, 12:46
As much as i don’t rate Sargeant at all, this is beyond harsh, which means Williams doesn’t rate him at all. As Keith said above why you put him in the seat in the first place for this season ? Might as well he was replaced by a new young guns drivers in the first place than publicly relegating him to sideline through no fault of his own. He must feel like he’s only a puppet to warm the second seat at Williams or this event should make or break for him starting next race to prove he’s not what Williams were rating him…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:29
What should they have done? Albon is expected to beat sargeant every race, massively so.
Mohammad Reza (@reza-pratama24)
22nd March 2024, 14:01
At least treat them fairly. Sargeant is not the one who bins the car, why he should be responsible for this shenanigans ? With this decision being made, Williams makes it absolutely clear that they’ve got no interest of running Sargeant on the car, why should they give the seat in the first place if they don’t have any faith for him in this situation ?
David B
22nd March 2024, 13:11
Oh boy. I can see this from all sides. It’s both smart & stupid. Both right & wrong. The only thing it isn’t is fair. I’m a big fan of Albon but he crashed the car, not Logan. Though you could say that Williams are down on parts & money because Logan has cost them so dearly the last year.
Oxnard (@montalvo)
22nd March 2024, 15:08
Not a chassis though. Teams should always have a spare chassis at the third event of a season.
JR Love (@dermechaniker)
22nd March 2024, 13:14
In all these many years of following F1, 2024 is the first season (and the build up to it) that I’ve ever looked at my wife and said, “Has F1 ‘Jumped the Shark’?”
The kind of drama this season is producing is just not a good look for this sport and is the kind of drama I am not the least bit interested in.
Way to dunk on your second driver that you, just days ago, told to up his game. Yeah, he”s going to really up it now, James.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 13:26
Brings me back to the 1950s, when the weaker driver sometimes gave up his car for fangio when it broke down during the race, back then it was allowed!
Oxnard (@montalvo)
22nd March 2024, 13:34
I’d get it if it was caused by a malfunction in the car, but he binned it himself, in the very same corner he binned it last year. Yes, Albon is the better driver, but crashing twice in the same corner should not come with a reward.
greasemonkey
22nd March 2024, 14:03
They have another car but it they cannot find it on their Excel spreadsheet.
Jungle
22nd March 2024, 22:58
Nice one
Tarn Burton (@yitzchak)
22nd March 2024, 14:20
If Albon shunts again then does Logan get his replacement car for the next two races? The fact that Albon didn’t refuse to drive Logan’s car says a lot about Albon.
Tommy Scragend
22nd March 2024, 14:26
Albon is under contract to Williams. If they tell him to drive Sargeant’s car, that’s what he has to do.
stefano (@alfa145)
23rd March 2024, 0:25
we don’t know what was said and he might have tried to refuse. we only know that he’s driving the car, that’s it. he might be 100% unwilling
Alesici
22nd March 2024, 14:53
Historically this race can be carnage, which brings opportunity for smaller teams. So this was the right call for them to make, which makes it entirely understandable. I was a bit worried they’d go the other way to be nice to Sargent. They’re already being extremely nice to let him race 23 races for them. I also felt they overpaid Massa to come back from an enforced retirement in 2014, and was worried they’d make the wrong choice again for them in the spirit of fairness.
sam
22nd March 2024, 16:36
Lewis ,this is James. I screwed this up.
Poundinit
22nd March 2024, 20:03
Can Williams not afford a spare, did they not have the time and resources to actually build one, or did they have one and just forgot to pick, pack and ship it? Forget curiouser and curiouser, either way this Williams story is just sad and pathetic. F1 now is now out a car for the quali sessions and race, and out a US-born pilot. That’s going to sorely dissapoint both American and UK fans who adore this scrappy, privateer Williams outfit. Good luck, Alex!
f1alex (@f1alex)
22nd March 2024, 20:09
As a longtime Williams fan this has left a very bitter taste in my mouth to be honest. I completely understand the reason why they’ve made the decision on paper, but it ultimately amounts to a “Vote of no confidence” in Logan’s ability, which is horrific driver management from a team principal who has been constantly repeating the belief he has in Logan. If the team truly believed in Logan they wouldn’t have given Albon his car.
This reminds me of Ferrari intentionally giving Massa a gearbox penalty at Austin in 2012, to bring Alonso up a position on the grid, but it’s even worse because it’s the beginning of the season and it isn’t even a championship battle. I know any points are arguably even more valuable for the P6-10 teams, but is it really worth telling the world “we do not believe in our driver” for at best a P9? If they don’t support Logan just put him out of his misery, chuck Fred Vesti in the car or another Merc/Williams junior. I can’t imagine how Logan must feel right now, how do you motivate a driver whose employer has just said “sorry mate, your team mate has just destroyed his car but we don’t think you can score points so we’re giving him your car”?
I love this team, I’ve been a fan since I saw Montoya push Schumacher aside at interlagos when I was only a few years old, but this is simply embarrassing. Stand by both your drivers, or give the drive to someone else.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 21:18
Is sargeant unable to handle the truth? There’s nothing wrong in your “sorry, mate” sentence, it’s the harsh truth.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 20:31
I like Albon, but he needs to crash in qualifying to make this even out. The minimum they can do for Sargent is a couple extra days vacation for this nonsense.
Mog
22nd March 2024, 20:50
I understand the reasoning, but the impact longer term on PR, team dynamics and especially Logans confidence is not worth it. Its a gamble for a point, but Logan has to occupy that seat for the rest of the year and this is a public vote of no confidence – he isn’t going to improve with that kind of pressure.
Maybe Williams are looking to replace him soon this season and don’t care?
Also agree it’s an injustice and my feeling of warm support for an underdog team just evaporated
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 21:15
Again, like I asked someone else, how many points do you expect sargeant to get this season in total, 1? Is it that big an impact if he’s less confident? Albon could score more in a single good race.
mog
22nd March 2024, 22:00
What’s the likelihood of Albon scoring in Melbourne? Also, what happens to Albon’s confidence if he bins it again?
Not worth it, the fall out is more damaging than the sniff of a possible point.
Lewisham Milton
22nd March 2024, 21:29
100th comment!
More than “n talking points ” / clicking points ever does, eh? Click click click!
stefano (@alfa145)
23rd March 2024, 0:22
given that Albon is not a title contender, not the smartest PR move
Mark (@mrcento)
23rd March 2024, 0:55
Having already written off 1 car, the moment Sargeant probably lost any chance of his car not being handed to Albon was FP2, when the team, desperate he didn’t also bin it and likely praying he just got around, got data with no drama, managed to spin the car at fairly high speed and almost collect somebody trying to avoid him. Vowles will have been having kittens on the pit wall.
At the end of the day, if that’s the adventures Logie is going to be having in the only chassis you have left, You can’t really blame the team principle for feeling you’d be as well sticking the quicker driver in it in the hope he can deliver a result.
Do feel a bit sorry for Sargeant, it wasn’t him that stuck it in the wall, nor was it him responsible for not having a spare chassis, has to be quite damaging having the team basically say they don’t trust you’ll do a decent job and take your car off you. Saw how ‘Fernando is faster than you’ hurt Massa and even the ‘Valterri it’s James’ dented Bottas, this is arguably even more of a brutal call, it’s not like they’re fighting for wins/podiums and that scenario didn’t take a driver out the event entirely to give a car to someone else who’d stuck theirs in the wall…. And with all the best will in the world, it’s Albon, as good as he is, it’s not an Alonso or Hamilton getting the car.