Williams Drops American F1 Driver Logan Sargeant For Remainder Of Season

It looked like American-born driver Logan Sargeant's time in F1 was winding down after it was revealed that the team had signed Carlos Sainz for the 2025 season, but now the team has revealed that Sargeant will not be in the cockpit for the final nine races of the season.

Sargeant hails from Fort Lauderdale and was in his second season in Formula 1, both of which were spent with Williams, but he has struggled to score in that time and has been involved in more than his fair share of big, costly crashes, including this past weekend in Zandvoort.

As mentioned in the previous post, Sargeant's replacement is Franco Colapinto, an Argentinian driver currently competing in Formula 2 where he is in P6 in the driver standings.

Colapinto will not be on the team next season as the aforementioned Sainz and current driver Alex Albon are both signed for 2025.

Switching drivers mid-season is always a major decision, and we just saw it last season with AlphaTauri (now known as RB) rookie Nyck de Vries. So, what could have led Williams to do this?

Well, as I mentioned, while Sargeant is a solid driver he has struggled to score points and has had several big crashes that have cost the team a lot of money. That's a big problem in the cost cap era as it means that money that could otherwise be allocated to developing the car has to go to repairs and building new parts.

For a team toward the bottom of the standings like Williams, that's not ideal.

It seems like this past weekend may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. You'd think if Williams had planned on making a change, then the time to do it would be during the summer break.

In Free Practice 3 on Saturday, Sargeant was involved in a massive crash that happened after he dunked a wheel into the grass. 

Fortunately, he was okay, but it meant that he was unable to compete in qualifying and was stuck starting in P18, and that was only because his teammate Albon was disqualified from qualifying and Haas Kevin Magnussen started from the pitlane.

This tanked pretty much any hope of scoring points, something the team desperately needs.

Logan Sargeant's final weekend with Williams involved a big, costly crash in practice at Zandvoort. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

Replacing Sargeant Looks Like A Hail Mary For Points

The timing of Williams' decision, given that it came in the middle of back-to-back weekends immediately after the summer break is really interesting.

That's because the second race of these back-to-back weekends is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and that has been one of Williams' best circuits over the last few seasons. 

This is because the last few cars Williams has developed have been fast in a straight line and Monza — where teams look to strip away as much downforce as possible — suits that best.

Monza may be one of the team's best opportunities to add to their point total through the remainder of the season, which might explain why they decided to swap in Colapinto. 

If they don't think Sargeant will get them points in Italy, why not try a guy who might?

Williams is in P9 in the constructors' standings with 4 points. That puts them behind Alpine with 13 points and ahead of Sauber who is scoreless.

Sauber has been so unimpressive that the idea of them scoring even four points from now until the finale in Abu Dhabi seems ridiculous. However, Williams scoring 9 points in that span to catch up to Alpine seems possible, and it would all start with a double-points finish at Monza.

It'll be tough, but any position they can gain in the constructors' standings means millions in prize money.

So, while switching Sargean mid-season is a bold move it might have been what they need to do to take a swing for a P8 finish.

Despite a difficult time in F1, Sargeant is till talented driver. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

What's Could Be Next For Sargeant? 

If there's one thing that Logan Sargeant's time in F1 has shown, it's that being a rookie in F1 is very difficult.

You're not given a whole lot of time in the car outside of race weekends which means that any mistake you make will be extremely costly, something Sargeant and Williams know all too well.

This is to say that despite how underwhelming his time with Williams was, Sargeant is still a very talented driver.

Is there a spot on the F1 grid for him in 2025? Technically, there are three spots left for 2025, one at Mercedes, one at RB another at Sauber.

The Mercedes seat appears to be trending toward F2 rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while the RB seat will likely go to either Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson.

That leaves Sauber, but would they want to sign Sargeant over someone like Kevin Magnussen, re-signing Valtteri Bottas or Zhou Guanyu, or trying out an F2 driver?

I don't think so. 

So, I think the best places for Sargeant to look would either be in IndyCar — where there are currently like a dozen seats, but a lot of competition for them — or in sportscar racing, either in IMSA, WEC, or a combination of the two.

While it's an unceremonious way to end his stint in F1, I don't think we will have seen the last of Logan Sargeant, and hopefully, there will be another American-born driver in F1 sooner than later.