Following a crash in final practice that saw him wreck his FW46 very badly at Zandvoort on Saturday, Logan Sargeant has been removed from his Williams F1 drive.
Team boss James Vowles was clearly very unhappy with the Floridian following the big crash, destroying the new updates on his car. The relationship between the pair has been broken for some time now, coming to a head last month when Pit Debrief revealed the duo were no longer on speaking terms.
The 23-year-old made his debut at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix following an impressive junior career in Formula 3 and Formula 2. However, a lack of pace compared to Alex Albon and multiple crashes last year saw him under big pressure coming into this campaign.
Although he has made progress — and was driving an older, heavier spec car compared to Albon at a few races earlier in the year — his sacking seemed inevitable.
Alex Albon’s crash in Australia saw him destroy the chassis on his car. With no spare chassis available due to a tight turnaround time to get the FW46 ready during the winter, the Thai got Sargeant’s car for the remainder of the weekend.
Williams’ team principal has been consistently putting pressure on Sargeant to improve through various media channels, and it has come to a head with this decision. Sargeant never outqualified his teammate in Grand Prix qualifying.
It opens the door for Franco Colapinto to take his seat. The Williams Academy Driver sits P6 in the Formula 2 championship at present. He won the Sprint race at Imola, and the Argentine driver backed it up with two P2s in the Feature races in Spain and Austria.
Colapinto finished P4 in the Formula 3 standings in 2023, scoring two wins along the way.
Mick Schumacher and Liam Lawson had been seen as favourites. However, the German has got WEC commitments with Alpine, while the New Zealander is likely to have a drive at Red Bull Racing or RB F1 next year.
Franco Colapinto
“It is an honour to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams – this is what dreams are made of.
“The team has such amazing history and a mission to get back to the front which I can’t wait to be part of.
“Coming into F1 mid-season will be an enormous learning curve but I am up for the challenge, and I’m fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success.”
James Vowles
“To replace a driver mid-season is not a decision we have taken lightly, but we believe this gives Williams the best chance to compete for points over the remainder of the season.
“We have just brought a large upgrade to the car and need to maximise every points-scoring opportunity in a remarkably tight midfield battle.
“We also believe in investing in our young drivers in the Williams Racing Driver Academy, and Franco is getting a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate what he is capable of across the final nine rounds of the season.
“This is undoubtedly incredibly tough on Logan, who has given his all throughout his time with Williams, and we want to thank him for all his hard work and positive attitude.
“Logan remains a talented driver and we will support him to continue his racing career for the future. I know that Franco has great speed and huge potential, and we look forward to seeing what he can do in Formula 1.”
