F1: Sargeant won’t be axed before end of the season

Williams Team boss James Vowles has come out and said struggling American rookie Logan Sargeant won’t be axed before the end of the season. But he will likely be axed after that unless he makes a dramatic improvement.

(GMM) As new questions are asked about Sergio Perez’s future at Red Bull, another driver further down the grid also seems to have a questionable future with his current team.

The last open cockpit on the 2024 grid is currently occupied by Logan Sargeant at Williams – who suffered another crash at Suzuka on Sunday on top of his high-speed qualifying shunt.

Some are even wondering if the American rookie, 22, can even survive to the very end of the season, including no less than two home grands prix in Austin and Las Vegas.

Team boss James Vowles is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick: “We will give Logan the chance to prove himself until the end of the season.

“Other drivers I can think of were given two years to do that,” he added, perhaps referring to Haas refugee Mick Schumacher, who is not a candidate to replace Sargeant at Williams.

As for Sunday’s crash on top of the one on Saturday, Vowles added: “It was unfortunate. Until then he was as fast as Alex (Albon). And on a track like Suzuka.”

For his part, Sargeant accepted the blame for crashing with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas on Sunday.

“Of course that’s my mistake,” he said. “But Bottas obviously didn’t notice that I’d locked the wheels.”

Finn Bottas told Viaplay: “He was on the inside, but I left enough space. It was clearly his fault.”

No matter what happens for the remainder of the 2023 season, many insiders can imagine that Williams will replace Sargeant for 2024 – perhaps with the well-financed Brazilian rookie Felipe Drugovich.

“Sargeant’s situation is starting to resemble what happened with (Nicholas) Latifi,” said well-known racing driver Toni Vilander on Viaplay.

“The guy seems to be a bit of out of his depth.”