The deflated Sargeant defiance amid more mid-season Williams F1 seat threat

As a second threat to his position at Williams emerged mid-way through the 2024 Formula 1 season, Logan Sargeant spelled out his impossible position at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The American driver faced the media ahead of this weekend’s race at Budapest, where rumours that Williams wished to possibly replace him with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon that first surfaced over the Silverstone weekend began to crystallise.

Reports emerged this week that Williams had gone as far as sounding out the possibility of Ocon transferring over from Alpine to replace Sargeant for the remainder of what is to be the Frenchman’s final season with the Enstone squad.

Ocon was apparently receptive to the idea, which would have had Alpine reserve driver, Jack Doohan, step up to make his F1 debut, but the plan was reportedly blocked by Alpine team principal Bruno Famin, who felt his squad could not afford to strengthen a direct rival.

This all followed Williams team boss James Vowles opting not to shut down a line of questioning on the current Alex Albon-Sargeant pairing remaining in place to 2024’s end at Silverstone.

Watch: View from the Paddock – F1 News – Hungarian Grand Prix Thursday

That in itself was two months on from suggestions at the Miami round that Andrea Kimi Antonelli could possibly be a candidate to replace Sargeant at Williams mid-season.

“We’re continually evaluating it,” Vowles said. “What we’ve said to Logan is it’s a meritocracy. You have to make sure you earn your place in the sport continuously. That’s been the same message that has been for 18 months really for him. And we are open-minded to things.”

After this, Sargeant had vowed to “fight to the end”, as he registered by far his best result of 2024 so far – 11th in the British GP. This was also his top on-the-road F1 result overall – he finished 12th at Austin in 2023 before disqualifications ahead elevated him to his sole F1 point so far.

Considering his current form and whether the final two races before the summer break were important to securing his position in Hungary, Sargeant replied: “It is what it is. I feel like I’ve been driving well throughout the year. I’m biding my time to really get the opportunity. I think I’ve been driving well and I’m happy with what I’ve been doing. So I’ll just try and keep that up.”

Logan Sargeant, Williams W46

Photo by: Erik Junius

All words to be expected. But it was striking just how deflated – resigned even – Sargeant seemed compared to the confident, exuberant personality that first greeted the F1 press corps at the Williams factory ahead of his first season as a grand prix racer in early 2023.

Then the group interview in the Williams motorhome took a turn. Sargeant’s demeanour didn’t change, but his message certainly did. There was a revelatory, no-holds-barred bite in the meaning, even though that wasn’t matched in his tone.

“No, not really,” was his answer on whether Williams had provided any feedback on his improved result at Silverstone, where Albon had finished ninth.

“Was this different to last year?”, Motorsport.com asked wondering if a change of tact had occurred given the obvious advantages of instilling confidence in last year’s rookie.

“No, [in] Formula 1, you’re expected to perform at a certain level,” Sargeant replied. “You don’t get a pat on the back every time you do a good job from within the team. No, nothing. Nothing majorly different.”

Sargeant also denied his claims that a lack of post-Silverstone feedback had left him annoyed, or feeling that he was going without something he needed.

“I do my best to perform on a personal level,” he stated. “I want to come here and perform well for all the guys and girls who are working hard for me and trying to maximise our performance every single weekend.

“Ultimately, I know when I perform well. So, if I can do that and give back to them, then that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Again, familiar F1 driver media training answers were reared. But then another revealing answer followed, when Sargeant was asked if his perception of F1 had changed in those 18 months.

“I quickly realised that no one knows what truly goes on inside a team other than the people that are in it,” he said. “So yeah. Life’s not always fair, but it is what it is.

“Nothing to be disappointed about. I get to drive an F1 car and not many people can say that.

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“Is it the media that creates an image of me? Well, I do believe that no matter how I drive, whether it’s good or bad, I’ll get criticised either way. So, I’m at a point where I really don’t care what people think. It’s impossible to please everyone, so I show up and I do my best to please myself.

“Even when I do things well, it’s still all negative. Well, not completely, but you still see a lot of negativity. And that’s why you see a lot of athletes really not in control of their social media anymore because it gives people a voice that they have never experienced performing at this high of a level and how difficult it is. And it just is what it is.”

Sargeant later reflected “Maybe I’m mixing that up” – on conflating the reporting of traditional F1 media outfits with social media comments from fans. He said of the latter sphere: “It’s quite a draining place – when you’re doing things well, of course people want to drive you down”.

Having paused a long time to consider what he called a “very thin line question to answer” on whether his experience as an American driver racing in a European-dominated championship meant he could comment on suggests of scepticism towards such drivers from within the F1 paddock, Sargeant felt “I don’t think I can say what I really think”.

But he had done earlier, insisting “I’ve been in the rhythm for a long time now – just didn’t have the chance to show it” – a reference to Williams running its FW46s in different specifications as upgrades arrived and following its early-season struggles on spare parts.

This was a key part of Sargeant being benched following Albon’s Australia practice crash and the uncertainty over his future at the team being laid bare.

Sargeant said the two cars had only been “the same” since the Austrian event two races ago.

“Last year compared to this year has been completely different,” he had also explained. “I think the big thing is last year [was] I couldn’t say I was doing a good job whereas this year I know I can say that and I can be happy with the job I’ve done, with a lot of the things I’ve done.

“Whether you and everyone else get to see that or not, unfortunately isn’t always in my control.”

Sargeant had earlier said: “I’m really happy with what I’ve been doing since Melbourne. I feel like I’ve been driving well, just not always given the opportunity to show it. And now that we have similar cars, it’s nice to have that chance every weekend.”

The interview ended with Sargeant’s defiance shining through his difficult position. Surrounding it all was a frustration that a good performance in a midfield car could go unnoticed by the wider world thanks to the cloak-and-dagger secrecy tactics deployed by every F1 squad.

Logan Sargeant, Williams Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Having explained how “coming through the junior formulas I always had great teams that really did support me 100%”, Sargeant acknowledged that thanks to Williams’ support in his junior career, “it was a massive privilege to be given the opportunity to race in Formula 2 to ultimately be put into Formula 1”.

He added: “It was a massive amount of support and trust from the start so of course I appreciate all of that massively and yeah, that doesn’t disappear”.

But when midway through being asked if support from an F1 team had changed on arrival at the top level, Sargeant interrupted to make one final point.

“No matter what you’re expected to perform,” he said. “I think where it starts to get hazy is performance doesn’t always matter, results do, and you have to have the same car in order to get the results. It’s as simple as that. So even if you’re performing well, unfortunately, it’s quite easy to be overlooked.”

Whether Sargeant sees out the 2024 season or not, he is not hiding from explaining his side of the story.