Logan Sargeant, who finished 11th in Sunday’s British Grand Prix, has stated that he will not give up on his future in F1 as James Vowles hinted he could be removed before the end of the season.
Williams had a terrible start to the season, with a lack of a spare chassis meaning the Floridian missed the Australian Grand Prix as Alex Albon was given his car. The Thai crashed out heavily in FP1.
From Miami until the triple-header, the 23-year-old has been on the back foot as Albon has consistently had a newer-spec car with upgrades and lighter parts. Despite that, he has shown clear signs of improvement this year and got closer to Albon, even if he has not outqualified him yet in the Grand Prix edition.
Sargeant was feeling very punchy after the race as he strongly defended himself and his performances this year.
“I’ve had noise for I don’t even know how long from every single direction, and at the end of the day, showing up to these weekends, I do my absolute best every single time.
“Everyone in the team is working hard, and I’m also here for myself. I want to prove to myself I can keep improving, and keep showing that I can do it.
“In my head, I know the true facts, and I know that I’ve been doing a good job this season with what I’ve had and that is what matters most to me.
“I know I’ve been driving well with what I’ve had throughout the season. If I look since Suzuka I’m really proud of the way I’ve showed up and kept trying to deliver even when I don’t always have the car to deliver.
“I’m a fighter, I’m going to fight no matter what the situation is. I’m going to fight to the end.”
Sargeant had his best qualifying result of the season on Saturday as he managed to put his car in 12th on the grid, 0.242s slower than Albon who made Q3.
After passing Albon at turn 4 on the opening when the Thai hit Alonso who was trying to avoid Hülkenberg, Sargeant lost out to his teammate at turn 16.
From there he tracked the Thai until they double stacked for intermediates.
Albon’s 9.7s stop badly hampered both their races, although the Thai finished 9th.
Sargeant fell behind Magnussen, but he would pass him later in the race when they got back on dry tyres. He admitted he struggled on inters, nonetheless.
“It was a good race, to be honest, I think I executed everything really well. It was a bit of a shame, we were too close on that first inters stop and we had to stack. [We] lost quite a bit of time there, and didn’t quite have the pace on the inter tyre, just was struggling a lot with degradation.
“Probably boxed a lap late to get back on the slicks but, yeah, easy in hindsight. I think we did a good job all things considered, kept it together in tricky conditions and gave ourselves a chance.
“But yeah, still one spot shy which is annoying.”
Despite putting on a good performance in Silverstone, Sargeant is still at risk of losing his seat. During the race weekend, Williams team principal James Vowles did not rule out making a change before the campaign is out, even if he admitted Sargeant has had not the same equipment as Albon throughout the year.
The FW46 was well overweight when the season started, and Albon has been running an updated-spec since Miami compared to Sargeant. Even when the driver from the US got the new floor in Austria, it was not working as it should have.
“Logan, all the way, through has been provided with the opportunity to retain his seat.
“That is in his control, and I need performance that is at Alex’s level, and I need him to be there day in, day out, fundamentally.
“We also have a responsibility as to why he hasn’t been [close to Albon], where we have not provided the right [equal] equipment, simply because of attrition.
“That has not been the case for several races now, but it is still on us, but when we have it, we need him right on it, pushing the team forward.
“He knows that, he wants to perform and I want to give him every opportunity I can, but there will be a line in the sand where we have to make a decision for 2025, and maybe for something this year.
“We will make a decision on it, but we are not there yet.
“My priority is, ‘Let’s sort out the car’. We’ve underperformed in that area, not Logan, not Alex. When we have a car at the right performance level, then let’s assess what we are costing ourselves, if we are costing ourselves.”
