Williams Gives Logan Sargeant Targets To Hit If He Wants To Keep His Seat In F1

There's only one seat still up for grabs on the Formula 1 grid for the 2024 season, and that's the one that currently belongs to Williams Logan Sargeant.

19 other seats have been locked in for next season, but Williams has yet to confirm that Sargeant — the lone American driver in F1 — will be back next season.

However, he still has a chance according to team principal James Vowles, and the team has laid out some targets that he'll need to hit in the final races of the season to maintain his ride.

“Logan has very clear targets of what he has to hit before the end of the season, and we are working with him continuously,” Vowles said, per Racer's Chris Medland. “And that’s the important point — we are working with him. We want him to succeed, and we want him in the car next year."

Williams' Logan Sargeant found the barrier during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. The crash at the final corner of the Suzuka Circuit was another example of him still coming to grips with F1 machinery. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

It's Been A Streaky Rookie Campaign For The American

Let's address the elephant in the room: Sargeant has failed to score points this season. That is despite a Williams car capable of doing so on some weekends. Additionally, he has had multiple, expensive crashes. Those have been a bit of a headache for the team from a cost cap and parts perspective.

That said, he has shown glimpses of promise. This makes his situation eerily similar to what Haas experienced with Mick Schumacher last year. He struggled to score points and had costly crashes as well. Like Sargeamt, he also showed flashes of the skill everyone knows he has.

One major difference was that Schumacher had the entire 2021 season in one of the team's cars. His rookie season was effectively a mulligan with zero expectations. This was because the team opted not to develop their car until the regulations were overhauled in 2022. While he may not have had much to show for it, it gave Mick a full season in an F1 car.

Sargeant wasn't afforded that luxury, and that's something Vowles is more than aware of.

“This is very much on us as well," he said. We have taken someone straight from Formula 2, without any significant testing, put him a day and a half in Bahrain in this car, and then wished them well on a season that has been awfully challenging for rookies.”

Sargeant's Drive Would Probably Be Safe... If It Wasn't For Liam Lawson

If I were a betting man (and I am, just a bad one) I would say that Sargeant's seat probably would have been safe had Liam Lawson not performed as well as he has with AlphaTauri.

While there are some real studs in F2 — Théo Pourchaire, Frederick Vesti, Ayumu Iwasa, and Jack Doohan — none have really been in the conversation for a ride next season.

So, Sargeant didn't face much competition from the junior formula ranks. Unfortunately for him, Lawson was so impressive with Alpha Tauri that Williams would be wild not to at least try to work a deal with Red Bull to give him a seat.

They've done it before. That's how they got Alex Albon in a Wiliams.

I think in a perfect world the team would prefer to stick with Sargeant. They've invested a lot in him and he's familiar with the team, which is undoubtedly headed in the right direction.

However, if they decided before the end of the season that he hasn't hit those targets and they need a change, it's hard to imagine they don't immediately start trying to cut a deal to put Lawson in the seat.

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