Vowles admits Sargeant's challenge is now 'enormous'

Williams team boss James Vowles has defended his driver Logan Sargeant's performance in F1, following a poor sprint qualifying at his home circuit, Miami, on Friday. This comes after GPBlog revealed that the team has applied for dispensation to allow F2 driver Kimi Antonelli to replace the American. 

Williams are yet to score a point during the 2024 F1 season, and currently sit eigth in the Constructors Championship. Last year, Sargeant scored one point during the Austin Grand Prix, whilst his team-mate, Alex Albon, scored all the remaining points for the team, placing them seventh in the 2023 standings. 

"At the end of the year, he came close to Alex, which is what I want him to do. But that progression had to continue. He had to be at the point where he's not sitting a tenth behind him, but rather challenging him and out-qualifying him and out-racing him fundamentally," Vowles said. 

"What Logan has as a challenge fundamentally in front of him is enormous. We can't underrate where Alex [Albon] is as a driver. He was, I think, underrated before, and he's a brilliant, brilliant driver in his own entity. In terms of Logan, what I've been asking for him is, despite the pressures of the world, the pressures we've created, the pressures I've created, the pressure all of you have created, you need to pull that all and put it behind you and make sure you're now out there fighting and out-qualifying Alex, pushing the team forward as a result of things." 

Could Antonelli replace Sargeant? 

Vowles has continued to defend Sargeant amid the reports that Antonelli could be set to replace him. The 17-year-old driver has already been linked to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season despite having a challenging season so far in F2. It is known that Vowles has applied for a superlicence for the young driver, despite the regulations stating you must be 18 to obtain one. 

For Sargeant to retain his seat at the British team, he must impress. However, Vowles reminded everyone why Sargeant does already have a seat within F1: "As I said, all the way through to meritocracy, earn your place. Now, he's got more work to do, but he's also one of the top 20 Formula One drivers in the world on the grid. And there's a reason for that." 

"He's in the car. He'll remain in the car. And my job here is supporting him."