Logan Sargeant is a driver under scrutiny in the F1 news cycle – as teams assess their options for 2024. As it stands, the American driver is not under immediate threat, but Williams has made clear further progress is expected.
Sargeant was impressive throughout his junior career, achieving impressive results in Formula 3 and Formula 2 – even amidst financial instability.
Williams recognised his potential and invested in the 22-year-old’s progression in the feeder series. Like any F1 rookie, he is not expected to perform miracles or outperform an established teammate like Alex Albon.
Primarily, Sargeant’s aim is to show enough speed to convince Williams his long-term potential is worth swallowing a few years of adaptation.
This does necessitate development at an ultra-rapid rate, but it will require a steeper rate of progression in the second half of 2023.
James Vowles made this clear last weekend, showing his trademark balance of fairness and ambition:
“The pace of learning has to increase now. He’s aware of all that, and I think he’s already very mature for his age,” he told the media.
“He knows he has a long career ahead of him, [and] that he’s in charge of.
“Our job is to help him along the way, not punish him.”
Unlike some of the other teams in F1, Williams is well-positioned to facilitate a young driver’s progress.
This is not to say the Grove-based team is uncompetitive. In fact, the opposite is true.
Williams has enough performance to get a representative gauge of a rookie’s speed but without underwhelming them in the adjustment phase.
Evidently, every driver in F1 is under immense pressure throughout the grid. However, unlike Alex Albon (who was thrown into the deep end by Red Bull), Sargeant has time to learn the ropes.
The relentless F1 news coverage that followed the young Thai driver at Red Bull was far more intense than what Logan Sargeant is facing.
Still, Williams is an organisation with ambition. This is increasingly clear under the leadership of James Vowles.
Therefore, Logan Sargeant must show in his current performances that his long-term contributions can be significant.
Albon can be expected to contribute the lion’s share of points in 2023, but looking ahead, the British outfit must believe the 22-year-old can contribute equally.
Alex Albon
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
