Williams driver Logan Sargeant might be the most under-pressure driver on the Formula 1 grid after seven races.
Although he’s on the same number of points as teammate Alex Albon at this stage of the season, they’ve had very different campaigns.
Williams team principal James Vowles has provided a breakdown of the latest race at Imola on the team’s official YouTube channel and analysed Logan Sargeant’s performance.
He also provided a very open assessment of the American’s status within the team and what he needed to do to save his seat.
Sargeant wouldn’t have been thrilled to see one of his rivals entering the Williams motorhome during the race weekend with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
READ MORE: Williams driver Logan Sargeant’s life outside F1 from height to Donald Trump ties
James Vowles explains what Logan Sargeant needed to do better at Imola
It was another race weekend to forget for the entirety of the Williams team.
Alex Albon’s car stopped during the first free practice session and brought out the red flag when he suffered a mechanical failure.
Qualifying went as expected, with Sargeant once again eliminated in Q1 while his more experienced teammate progressed.
Sargeant’s quickest lap would have seen him start 17, but he had all of his lap times deleted for breaching track limits and started at the back of the grid.
Albon was running in the pack hoping to score a point given Fernando Alonso’s struggles and pitted early in the race.
On lap 10, he switched onto the hard tyres but was back in the pit lane a lap later as one of tyres hadn’t been fitted correctly thus ending any chances of him scoring points and the team eventually retired the car when there was no hope of achieving a top-ten finish.
That meant Sargeant was Williams’s only hope of scoring points at Imola and James Vowles wasn’t unhappy with his race pace.
Unfortunately, he crossed the line in 17, only finishing ahead of Alonso and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.
Given it was the Finn that was spotted in the Williams motorhome, that might give the 23-year-old a small lift.
However, Bottas has more than a decade of F1 experience under his belt and 10 race wins to fall back on, while Sargeant has only scored a single point in his career.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship
Logan Sargeant told he needs to improve to save his Williams seat
Assessing Sargeant’s performance at Imola, Vowles said: “Logan [Sargeant] and I have a very open, honest relationship where we talk about things straightforward.
“I’ve gone through that we need a performance step from him. He needs to be matching Alex [Albon] in a qualifying condition.
“We need to be qualifying where Alex is at the same time.
“Now, if we take the weekend as a whole there are some positives. Absolutely, the ones you’ve picked up on, he was in the race, he was fighting, he could see P14 which was just a matter of seconds behind [ahead of] him.
“Converse to that is in qualifying, he had speed but wasn’t able to put it together with all of the laps being deleted and we need all of it coming together at the same time.
“He knows more than anyone else the weight that is on his shoulders, the amount of performance he has to find as a result of things.
“And we’re here to support him, not hinder or hurt him. But it’s still the journey that is his one to take and there’s still more work to be done.”
Who could replace Logan Sargeant at Williams?
If Vowles does make the difficult decision to part ways with Logan Sargeant – regardless of the positives he spotted at Imola – several drivers are being lined up to potentially replace him.
If Williams want to make a mid-season switch, then the name on everybody’s lips is Kimi Antonelli.
He would be eligible for a superlicense in time for the Italian Grand Prix, giving Sargeant several months to improve his performances.
Timo Glock believes that Mick Schumacher is the best driver for Williams should they want to fire Sargeant before the end of the year.
Valtteri Bottas appears to have made himself available to his former team with his chances of staying at Sauber dwindling.
Toto Wolff also wants to place Esteban Ocon at Williams with Alpine having a very difficult time this season.
It’s very difficult to see Logan Sargeant still being a Williams driver in 2025, although his management has reached out to another team to try and retain his F1 status.
The post ‘We need all of it’: James Vowles pinpoints Logan Sargeant issue at Imola amid mounting pressure on his future appeared first on F1 Oversteer.