American F1 star Logan Sargeant is publicly backed by Williams amid huge uncertainty over his future as boss insists they DO want him in 2024… if he meets the targets they’ve set!
- Logan Sargeant has had an extremely tough transition from F2 to F1
- But Williams has thrown their support behind the American driver
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Williams have backed their struggling rookie driver Logan Sargeant, insisting the American is ‘on a journey with us’ as he sits third-bottom in the F1 standings.
Sargeant is in his first F1 campaign after making the switch from F2, and there have been calls for him to be dropped by Williams amid a crash-filled season.
However, with another two months left in the season, Williams team principal James Vowles has thrown his support behind Sargeant – with a caveat.
‘Logan has very clear targets of what he has to hit before the end of the season, and we are working with him continuously – and that’s the important point,’ Vowles said in a video released by Williams. ‘We’re working with him. We want him to succeed, and we want him in the car next year.
‘This is very much on us as well,’ he continued. ‘We have taken someone straight from Formula 2 without any significant testing and put a day and a half in Bahrain in this car, and then wish them well on a season that has been awfully challenging for rookie drivers full stop.’
Logan Sargeant has struggled this season in F1, sitting 20th in the standings currently
But Williams boss James Vowles has backed the young American amid a tough campaign
Sargeant crashed his car during qualifying in Suzuka, Japan last weekend
Sargeant is one of three rookies competing in F1 this season, alongside Alpha Tauri’s Nyck de Vries and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
De Vries sits one spot below Sargeant at second-bottom while Piastri is in an impressive ninth place.
Vowles said in the video that there were ‘very positive signs’ to take out of Sargeant’s performance thus far, noting he nearly matched teammate Alex Albon’s time in Suzuka before crashing in qualifying.
Vowles also added that Sargeant is ‘not on the same aerodynamic specification’ as Albon, blaming the difference in the cars to the ‘amount of attrition we’ve had this year.’
‘So the progress is there in certain forms, but very clearly being marred by a number of other issues and accidents that have appeared as well,’ Vowles continued. ‘We will continue to work with Logan and invest in Logan as we want him to succeed as the result of the journey he’s on.
‘He’s on a journey with us as Williams. We have a young driver program that we will continue to invest in. Only at the point where all of us come to the conclusion that we’ve reached the end of that road, we will make any decisions. But we’re nowhere near that yet.’
The next F1 race is the Qatar Grand Prix on October 8.
Source: Read Full Article