Montoya: Sargeant ‘already knows’ he will lose Williams seat

Ex-Williams driver Juan-Pablo Montoya believes that Logan Sargeant is under no illusions about his F1 future, even if his team has yet to confirm its final decision to the American.

Sargeant was promoted to F1 in 2023 by former Williams team boss Jost Capito after a strong campaign in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

However, the young gun’s rookie year in the sport proved challenging as he consistently struggled to match the pace of his teammate, Alex Albon.

Sargeant was comprehensively outscored by the rapid Anglo-Thai racer by a margin of 27 points to 1. Qualifying sessions also proved one-sided, with Sargeant failing to outqualify Albon even once.

Williams nevertheless handed the young man from Fort Lauderdale a second chance. But while his relative performance has improved, results have once again been hard to come by for the 23-year-old, whose efforts remain blemished with too many mistakes.

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Montoya has joined a chorus of pundits who believe that Sargeant’s fate at Williams is signed and sealed.

“He already knows, although they haven’t officially told him yet that he will no longer stay with the team,” the 48-year-old told W Radio Colombia.

“The moment they tell him: ‘Look, thank you very much for the past years, we gave you the opportunity, but it didn’t work, what a shame’, they can also tell him to relax and focus on his future.

“Then Logan will relax a lot more, he will no longer fight for that seat and it will be really difficult for him to stay in Formula 1.

“If I were him, I would first talk to everyone to see whether there is interest from another team. But I would also start looking at IndyCar, WEC and other options for next year.”

In hindsight, Sargeant’s graduation to F1 was warranted based on his strong results in the sport’s feeder series. But Montoya believes the latter are no indication of future success at the highest level.

“He’s had a tough time and it’s difficult. If you look at his performances in F3 and F2, he was very good,” added the seven-time Grand Prix winner.

“It’s sad because if you ask Albon, he will say Sargeant is very fast, he does very well, but he makes a lot of stupid mistakes.”

Another worrying development regarding Sargeant’s situation is the FIA's recent decision to lower the age limit for an F1 superlicence to 17, under certain conditions.

This opens the door for highly rated Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who turns 18 in August, to be slotted into the American’s seat at Williams, possibly as early as next week’s Austrian Grand Prix.

With Williams’ plans to beef up its driver line-up in 2025 and Sargeant's underwhelming performance, his time in F1 looks to be ending sooner rather than later.

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