With only one spot on the 2024 grid yet to be confirmed, will Logan Sargeant stay at Williams, or can Liam Lawson earn a permanent Formula 1 seat?
Bernie Collins and Anthony Davidson joined Matt Baker on the latest edition of the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, which you can listen to in full in the player below, to debate that topic after an action-packed double header concluded in Japan.
A challenging rookie season for Sargeant continues at Suzuka, where he crashed dramatically in qualifying before retiring from the race after a collision with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.
In contrast, Lawson has been hugely impressive in replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo over the past four races, and may have jumped to the top of the list of candidates to potentially replace Sargeant.
Why is Sargeant’s future in doubt?
I think it is so difficult to predict what is happening in the background of a team, especially because although we see incidents on the track, see the pace, hear the communication of his driver, we do not see how he performs in the debriefs, what he does. in terms of the team in terms of development, how he interacts with everyone, so maybe the team works really well together,” Collins said.
“But I think a few things were telling this weekend: it came to light that, because there have been so many accidents, the car is not up to full specification. And then immediately there was another accident.
“So I think there’s only a limited amount of time a team can last. That will ultimately put pressure on the team and management.
“The mechanics work so hard and it’s hard to keep the motivation up when you’re fixing a car every weekend, putting it back together and running it with parts, so I think those are the things that will probably disappoint him more. then the back and forth pace.
“The inability to drive a car with your preferred specifications is very detrimental because you do half the learning work. You learn half of your upgrades. You learn half of every development item you do.
“Ideally you want two drivers who are very equal, where in FP2 you can drive one in the medium and one in the hard and you can learn from both.
“So your ultimate goal is to have two really well-adapted drivers. And in addition, you need a driver who is fit to stay on the asphalt.”
‘Lawson a great option’
“I think it’s not just me saying this, but everyone in the paddock that I’ve spoken to about it, Liam Lawson, what a fantastic job he’s done,” said Davidson.
“I think he would be a great option for Williams and one that both teams can benefit from. In the short term, Williams can benefit from having, obviously, a known quantity who will step in and do a good job.
“He’s done enough races now in enough conditions to give people confidence and that’s what a team is often about. It’s not just one person who makes the decision who he puts in a car, it’s many people who do that. must do.” In many ways brave enough not to be wrong when things do go wrong. And it’s like a board decision who they’re going to choose.
“You can see the guy keeps his nose clean, he’s not a crasher, he’s fast when he needs to be, he’s a methodical worker, he’s a good passer, he’s a team player and he ticks a lot of boxes.
“He is young and he has time to continue learning away from the spotlight. Continuing to learn in a team like Williams, alongside a great driver like Alex Albon, could be a fantastic relationship and one that also works well for Red Bull. to the front because they have the luxury of having too many drivers around for the number of seats available.
“To me that makes sense. He is the most logical person I would want to put in my second seat if I were leading a team. And you would make a nice deal with Red Bull.
“The only negative for Williams is that you would lose that good. You train someone only to lose them later. But in the short term you could put a fair number of points on the table and walk away.” of a season with someone who doesn’t damage the car all the time.”
Who are the other contenders?
“So if it’s not him, you have to look elsewhere. Felipe Drugovich was there this year at Aston Martin as a reserve driver and almost got his chance in Bahrain due to a new hand or wrist injury from Stroll, who just came back in time, but he was prepared and ready to jump in.
From what I could tell it did quite well in the Bahrain test, but again limited information. I would put him in the car with less confidence than Lawson because I haven’t seen enough of his performance in different scenarios. I didn’t see him during Formula 1 qualifying, I didn’t see him start a race.
Felipe Drugovich has been working in practice for Aston Martin this season
“The only thing I’ve seen is lap time comparisons with Alonso at different times of the day because they weren’t out together because it’s just one car, so it really starts to limit your data points on that driver.
And then you have Theo Pourchaire, who currently leads the F2 championship. He will also be looking for a seat next year.
“What Logan Sargent proves, however, is that he was comparable to Liam Lawson in F2. He had the speed and consistency there and he had good race results to almost equal or match those guys. But still for whatever reason. it doesn’t work in Formula 1.
“It can be such a pressure-cooker environment in Formula 1 for some drivers that they struggle to drive freely enough. You drive too tensely because you don’t have enough self-confidence. Because such a scary environment is such that they call it the Piranha Club. And for good reason, because if you don’t perform, you will be swallowed up by everyone. And that can intimidate you.
“I feel like Logan isn’t riding like I’ve seen him ride before in other categories. He’s not driving like he knows he can drive, and these mistakes keep coming because he might be trying to do things without breaking in. a free way.
“You have to be relaxed when you drive these cars. You have to let it flow, and if you are too tense and digital in your movements, because you are naturally nervous all the time and drive with a feeling of, ‘Should I doing?’ Do you really belong here?’ It’s never going to work out for you.
“So it’s not working for Logan right now. He’s going to have to ask himself questions. Obviously the team is going to ask questions and what do you do? It’s not an easy decision.”
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