“Almost unfair” to keep Sargeant in Williams F1 seat

James Vowles reckoned it was “almost unfair” on Logan Sargeant if it had persisted with his services, noting that the American had “reached the limit” of his F1 potential.

The Williams team principal elected to stand Sargeant down and replace him with Franco Colapinto for the last nine races of 2024, although was keen to point out that the Floridian’s Zandvoort crash was not the key factor in making the change.

Explaining the decision, Vowles felt that Sargeant’s progress over 2023 – where he managed to iron out a period of crashes and other notable incidents to get closer to Albon on pace – was worthy of a 2024 recall.

However, he felt that progress had not been forthcoming over 2024. Although he lauded Sargeant for “giving me 100%” at each race, this was ultimately not seen as enough performance.

“If you speak to every TP up and down the pit lane, no one wants to change a driver mid-season. It’s horrible. It is incredibly tough on the driver, it is tough on the team, it is disruptive.” Vowles said.

“So why change it now? The cleanest point to have done it would have been at the beginning of the year. But Logan at the end of last year was starting to get within a tenth of Alex and starting to be close. 

“It was good to see his progression and if that progression continued we would have the driver I think in a very strong place this year. It didn’t feel like the right point to cut ties and sever ties as a result of it. 

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46 crash

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“So the reason now is straightforward, we’ve had enough experience to know that he’s reached the limit of what he’s able to achieve. In fact, it’s almost unfair on him furthermore continuing that. 

“Look at his face when he gets out of the car, he’s given you everything he possibly can and it’s not enough. He absolutely never from a human perspective did anything but give me 100% of what he was able to do. 

“But the realisation of where he is on his limits now is very clear, it’s clear to everyone.”

Vowles reiterated that it was best for both parties that they go their separate ways, rather than persist with a situation that had run its course – stating that “a clean break at that stage feels like the correct decision for all parties. It feels like it’s fair to Logan.”

The Briton also made sure that his decision was not influenced by Sargeant’s Zandvoort crash, and wanted to ensure that his decision was done purely on performance terms. With this, Vowles said that his erstwhile driver simply lacked outright pace.

“What I wanted to do is give what I thought was sufficient time for [Sargeant] to demonstrate where he is on tracks that I know we can perform at. 

“Early in the year, there was a responsibility on us to build a fast enough car. We did not. 

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“From Zandvoort onwards, I believe we have built a car that is capable of points now and that’s where the decision point changes.

“And in the case of it, it really did happen after the race on Sunday and I dug through his data with enough detail to see where he was performance-wise, what was happening. 

“And it wasn’t one area, there was a lack still of time management, there was a lack of pace and where he finished was just too far back.