We’re only five races into the 2024 Formula 1 season but already some drivers are cementing their place on the grid next season with their performances.
There was never any doubt that Fernando Alonso would be racing in 2025 if he wanted to, but Aston Martin were delighted when he decided to put pen to paper on a new contract.
In the aftermath of Nico Hulkenberg securing a seat at Sauber next year, courtesy of three points finishes this campaign, journalists Edd Straw and Ben Anderson were assessing several other drivers’ chances of sticking around for another season on The Race Podcast.
Every race counts now for each driver on the grid who hasn’t secured a place on the grid in 2025.
With several rookies pushing hard to earn race seats, it looks certain that someone is going to miss out.
In the RB team, Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson appear to be fighting for two seats between them.
However, Williams driver Logan Sargeant looks set to head out of the door right now after a disappointing start to 2024.
Plenty of drivers not currently on the grid will be eyeing up his seat as the most likely to be available next year.
He needs to go to the first of his three home races this year in Miami and put in the best performance of the campaign to reduce the pressure he’s currently under.
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Williams driver Logan Sargeant has ‘one and a half feet’ out of the door
It’s been a difficult start to the year for Williams as a team, with the team pushing every deadline the build-up to pre-season testing and the first race in Bahrain.
They’ve developed a more balanced car than last season which means they’ve lost some of the straight-line speed that caused their rivals so many problems.
Unfortunately, their development has left them light to parts and Sargeant had to sit in the garage and watch in Melbourne after Alex Albon wrecked his chassis in practice.
The 23-year-old being sacrificed to allow Albon to race is a worrying sign but he had the perfect chance to bounce back in Japan and show the team what they were missing.
Unfortunately, he found the barriers on his first push lap in practice, immediately justifying team principal James Vowles’s decision.
Logan Sargeant looks more and more likely to be shown the door by Williams at this stage.
While there are several drivers in the team’s academy who would be desperate to replace him, one youngster elsewhere might be the most likely candidate at this stage.
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Logan Sargeant needs to put in his best performance in 2024 in Miami
Journalist Edd Straw was reviewing the driver market and said: “I think one thing we can say is there’s going to be a number of drivers who are going to be disappointed because [Oliver] Bearman’s going to be on the grid, [Kimi] Antonelli will either be in a Mercedes or a Williams if they decide not to take him I would have thought.
“So, people like Zhou [Guanyu], [Valtteri] Bottas, [Kevin] Magnussen, [Daniel] Ricciardo maybe.
“I mean [Logan] Sargeant’s got one and a half feet out of the door already.
His colleague Ben Anderson added: “He’s history isn’t he?”
Straw concluded: “Aside from the fact that there’s always that tiny chance you can capitalise on the power of incumbency and if he were to string together a really good season from here, really good, then they keep him.
“But I don’t think there’s any evidence to say that he will do that so that’s purely a long shot, indeed there are rumours of him being out earlier than that which are persistent.”
Can Logan Sargeant save his Williams seat?
The £15,000-a-week driver is undoubtedly in a weak position right now.
There are suggestions that Sargeant could be out of the door at Williams before the campaign is even over.
Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli is regularly being suggested as a potential replacement at this stage.
However, if the end of last season showed anything, it’s that Vowles is a fan of the 23-year-old.
When he had the choice of any rookie in Formula 2 or sitting as a reserve driver in another team, he gave Sargeant a new one-year deal.
The likes of Liam Lawson and Felipe Drugovich missed out, but Vowles won’t have patience for much longer if he continues to struggle.
The team have already spent millions fixing crash damage and even if Sargeant brings plenty of sponsorship with him, at the current rate he’s going he might have to find more money before the conclusion of the season.
The post ‘He’s history’: Journalists agree that £15k-a-week driver already has ‘one and a half feet’ out the F1 door appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
