Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles has indicated that there are no plans to give Mercedes protégé Kimi Antonelli any racing mileage in the latter half of this season.
However he reiterated that Logan Sargeant still has to earn his place for the remainder of the year, and thus the team could potentially have a vacancy at some stage – but for a more experienced driver.
Mercedes is still hoping to put Antonelli into Lewis Hamilton’s vacant works seat next year, assuming that his education in F2 and with his 2022 F1 car test programme continues to go to plan.
However inevitably the Italian has also been connected with Williams, given that Vowles mentored him at Mercedes and that George Russell was farmed out for what turned out to be a three-year apprenticeship with the Grove outfit.
With Carlos Sainz confirmed alongside Alex Albon in 2025 there is no chance of the Antonelli having a seat in 2025.
However, he has also been mentioned in connection with replacing Sargeant for the later races of 2024, and thus gaining some useful experience.
Vowles admitted that Sargeant’s place is far from guaranteed.
“I think what I’ve said before is this,” he said. “Earn your place, and in Silverstone and Budapest, he earned his place.
“This weekend I need him to do more in the race weekend, but I’m not going to make a decision from one race to the next.
“What I don’t want to sit here and say is Logan absolutely has a place nailed forever in this situation. Earn it, as I have to earn my job, as Alex has to earn his job at the same time.”
Asked by formu1a.uno if Toto Wolff was pushing Antonelli towards Williams for an early graduation Vowles denied that is the case, suggesting that he would only give Sargeant’s seat to someone with more experience.
“Toto isn’t pushing him towards me,” he said. “And my perspective, as I said before, is I’d much rather give Logan every opportunity to succeed, and be an ongoing professional racing driver.
“Where I’m balancing, and the reason why I said not an absolute yes to [him staying], is when we make this car faster, and we will make it faster, I have a responsibility to finish as high up in the championship as possible. And if he delivers, brilliant. If he doesn’t, then I need to reconsider my options.”
Vowles downplayed the suggestion that he might want to be part of the Antonelli story, even for a few races at the end of this year.
However, he recalled the wet Saturday F2 race at Spa, when Antonelli impressed the paddock by making a bold passing move into Eau Rouge.
“I’ll talk to you about something that’s very private, but I hope Toto doesn’t mind,” he said. “We were messaging yesterday during the F2 race. And for me, what Kimi did is bloody impressive. It was against [Franco] Colapinto, our own driver here.”
“He went up the inside, and he didn’t lift. And for all of you that have at least been in a racing car, you know how tough that move was. That in the wet is not just brave, that takes a hell of a lot of skill. And he had snaps at the top of Eau Rouge. That’s impressive.
“He’s a good kid – but he’s 17. And answering your question, I’ll be proud of whatever he achieves, because I was part of his journey all the way up until the last few years. But I’m not sure that’s going to overlap with Williams.”
