Williams rubbishes pay driver claims against Logan Sargeant, claims the American as ‘deserved’ his peculiar F1 promotion
James Vowles defends Logan Sargeant as a talented driver who was signed by Williams on merit.
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Logan Sargeant, (image via PlanetF1)
Logan Sargeant made his F1 debut with Williams Racing in 2023. The 22-year-old is the first American driver to race in F1 after Alexander Rossi in 2015. Critics have argued that Sargeant was signed because of the commercial benefits an American driver will bring to the team. Logan got promoted at the last moment after his first full season in Formula 2. However, Williams’s Team Principal has refuted such claims.
The 43-year-old joined the British team at the start of the year and has delved into the data of its drivers. Subsequently, James Vowles is convinced that Logan Sargeant was hired on merit. He also shed light on the 22-year-old’s junior career, partly funded by Willaims. Vowles said, “I now have the ability to look at his data, and he is here on merit. As a result of Williams investing correctly in him, he’s now a professional, deserving driver on the grid.”
Logan Sargeant became a part of the Williams driver academy in the latter half of 2021. As such, the team claims that Logan is a regular salaried driver, who is not paying for his seat. Something that was done by previous Williams drivers, such as Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi. Sargeant also comes from a rather wealthy family.
Vowles opened up about the first time he looked at Logan Sargeant’s performances during his time at Mercedes. Although, the 43-year-old did not sign up the American for the Silver Arrows. He explained, “He came to Mercedes as a sim evaluation [driver] and I was interested in looking at him because he had performance, especially when you go back to his Formula 3 performance in an average team. He was there with Oscar [Piastri] and I rate Oscar also highly.”
Related: Which F1 driver comes from the wealthiest family?
“Williams were right,” James Vowles on Logan Sargeant’s talent
Vowles admitted that Logan Sargeant is a promising young talent that lost out at Mercedes. Since the German team already had a pool of promising talent at that time. However, James mentioned that Williams Racing decided to invest in the 22-year-old as the team had faith in his talent. He continued, “At the time in Mercedes, we had a good suite of drivers. So that was where my relationship with him ended… Williams funded him because they had deep belief that he was the real deal. “
Moreover, the 43-year-old was confident that Williams did the right thing by signing up Logan Sargeant, as Vowles could finally see the talent of the 22-year-old through the available data. James concluded, “My reticence came from the fact that prior to that, it’s difficult to really judge him… so it just shows you that my previous life I was wrong, and Williams were right.”
Thus, James Vowles has defended his driver from any pay driver claims. The Williams team boss was adamant that the team took Logan Sargeant on merit and instead of being a paid driver, Williams has partly funded the American’s career. Despite what many believe to be an early promotion for Sargeant, the 22-year-old appears to have the faith of his team. This in turn, will provide Logan with confidence on the track.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2335 Articles Published)