Logan Sargeant surprised by Williams announcement: I didn’t know that was coming

After James Vowles announced Williams “want” Logan Sargeant in the car next season, the under-fire rookie admits he didn’t see that coming and called the public support a “nice surprise”.

Stepping up into the brutal world of Formula 1 after just one season in F2, Sargeant has struggled to find his feet with the pressure to score points seemingly leading to mistakes.

It had Dave Robson saying after his Japanese Grand Prix crashes, that the mistakes were detracting from Sargeant’s progress.

洛根Sargeant是唯一未经证实的司机2024

The Williams’ head of vehicle performance said: “I think it had kind of masked his steady performance, and this weekend [Suzuka] was actually going really well. It’s a real shame but I think it is fair that the crashes, since Zandvoort, have masked what has clearly been some steady improvement.”

But with pundits continuing to question whether Sargeant is a “viable” option for Williams for 2024, team boss James Vowles then released a video shared across Williams’ social media channels.

In that, he said: “Logan has very clear targets of what he has to hit before the end of the season, and we are working with him, we want him to succeed andwe want him in the car next year.

“We will continue to work with Logan and invest in Logan, as we want him to succeed as the result of the journey he’s on. He’s on a journey with us as Williams. We have a young driver programme that we will continue to invest in.”

The American, who is yet to score a point in Formula 1, was pleasantly surprised by the public show of faith.

“It’s always nice, I mean, from my side, I talk to James every single weekend. I knew that before anything was put on social media. It was just sort of a nice surprise, really,” he said.

“I didn’t know that was coming. But at the end of the day, I have to just keep working hard, keep my head down, and try to be better.

“Japan, including the lap until the last corner in quali, was my best weekend to this point, 100%. I built it up nicely, did everything I needed to, I was just too heavy on the right foot in the last corner and that’s how quickly it can go wrong.

“I think realistically now it’s just more important to have a clean weekend and not go for every last hundredth, even if that means I’m leaving a tenth or two on the table.”

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The 22-year-old also has the support of his team-mate Alex Albon.

“I’m not the one to decide, but I know Logan pretty well. I can see his performance. I do think he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves,” Albon reckoned.

“There is a lot of speed and talent within Logan. I think it’s just been a little bit offset with a couple of mistakes that he’s had.

“In all seriousness, I do think he’s – I mean, I’m not the one to say it, but I get on very well with him and I think he just needs a bit more time and confidence, and he’ll get up there.”

With six races remaining this season, Williams are seventh in the Constructors’ Championship with Albon having scored all 21 of the team’s points.

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