Last in our standings, the American driver’s sophomore F1 season definitely was not what neither Sargeant nor team boss James Vowles had expected or hoped for.
The Williams Academy driver had prepared himself in 2022 amassing a great deal of kilometres by testing during FP1s and private tests, conducted alongside his rookie Formula 2 season.
After a tricky first F1 campaign he had been reconfirmed for a second season with the Grove-based team.
However, 2024 as a season began with the wrong foot and mostly followed the same note, as misfortune, along with tensions within the team and some rather costly mistakes saw him dropped after the Dutch GP.
Early hardships
The first round in Bahrain saw him gain four spots, but due to a steering wheel issue he ended up finishing dead last.
Williams only just made it to Bahrain with the FW46, leaving them short on spare parts.
A nightmare Down Under
Among the toughest moments of his entire season was the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, during which his much more experienced teammate Alex Albon had crashed his FW46 in the early stages of FP1.
Since the team only had one available chassis as they had no spare, Williams decided to pull the American from the event and give his car to Albon as they believed him to be their best shot at points, with the Thai missing out on a top ten finish as he ended up in P11.
The worst is yet to come
But the problems had only just begun.
In Japan he ran into the gravel, in China he spun in qualifying, and overtook Hulkenberg under the Safety Car, earning himself a penalty.
His Miami home round didn’t improve the situation as he was forced to retire following a collision with Magnussen as the Dane took him out, and did not finish the Canadian round as the 24-year-old crashed again.
Needless to say, Sargeant did not manage to score any points in the season which concluded the past week. The highlight of his 2024 season was his team’s British home round, where he achieved a starting P12 and ended the race just out of the points in P11.
Older parts leaving him on the back foot
While too many mistakes were made, there is no question Sargeant was up against it thanks to his team’s deficiencies as they only got the FW46 ready just in time for Bahrain.
In Monaco, he had to use a 2023 rear wing. When Williams upgraded their car, the American had to wait a number of races before getting new bits, and in some cases they did not work properly.
When you’re fighting for your career, that makes the task virtually impossible.
Swan song in the Netherlands
The sign his time at Williams was coming to an end happened with the announcement of Carlos Sainz’s signing for them on a multi-year deal from 2025 onwards.
At the time, when asked about the brewing situation, Williams’s team principal James Vowles had mentioned that Formula 1 was a “meritocracy”, with room for the top drivers and that the Sargeant F1 situation was under his “constant control”.
He retained his seat for the first round after the summer break at Zandvoort, but there had been a rather icy climate beforehand.
In his final F1 weekend, Sargeant crashed heavily during FP3 with the updated package brought to the track, missing out on qualifying as well.
Two days after the race, Williams annouced that he was to step down for the rest of the season, with Franco Colapinto taking his place.
It definitely was not the season him or Williams had hoped for. The Floridian was extremely fast in F2 and F3, so those performances suggest a lot more potential was in him than what we saw in F1.
He has completed an IndyCar testing session at Thermal with Meyers Shank Racing, placing in the top 3, and will compete in ELMS in the upcoming season.
