Jolyon Palmer has admitted that he never expected Logan Sargeant would ‘thrive’ or be ‘amazing’ after Williams promoted the American driver into a Formula 1 race seat.
The 23-year-old debuted in the pinnacle of motorsport in 2023 as Williams hired Sargeant to replace Nicholas Latifi. He had already been a part of the Grove outfit since October 2021 as a part of their driver academy. Williams announced his graduation to F1 after one year in F2.
Sargeant also only finished the 2022 Formula 2 championship in fourth, behind the runaway champion Felipe Drugovich, the 2023 champion Theo Pourchaire and Red Bull talent Liam Lawson. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native won two races during his rookie campaign in F2.
Jolyon Palmer never expected Logan Sargeant to be ‘amazing’
Williams signed Sargeant for their driver academy back in 2021 following his second term in Formula 3. The American had ended the 2020 season in third place behind Oscar Piastri and Pourchaire. He even only missed out on the title by four points after a crash in the final race.
But a switch from Prema to Charouz ensured Sargeant could not match his rookie F3 season. He would only win one race and failed to take a single pole position. But Williams still signed him before securing a seat in F2 with Carlin, for whom he won two races and had two poles.
Yet despite Sargeant’s rookie successes in F2, Palmer – who won the feeder series title back in 2014, while it was still the GP2 Series – never expected the American would ‘thrive’ in F1 with Williams. His rookie F1 campaign would also only yield one fortuitous point last season.
“Too many teams have been too uninspiring with their driver choices,” he said on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “Particularly for this year when there’s been no changes at all, and you’ve got two Formula 2 champions on the bench.
“There is talent out there but they’ve just stuck with what they know. And I love that some youngsters can get in and prove them wrong… It’s also [about] choosing which rookie. There are some rookies that do struggle. Logan Sargeant has had a tough time in Formula 1.
“Did we expect him to thrive and be amazing? Probably not because, what was he, fourth in Formula 2 in the end? [He] just got the super licence points to make it onto the grid.”
Logan Sargeant is fighting for his F1 career at Williams again
Sargeant took his only point in 2023 with P10 at the United States GP but after the stewards disqualified Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Alex Albon took 27 of Williams’ points and beat Sargeant 22-0 in qualifying, 19-3 in Grand Prix and 6-0 in Sprints in their head-to-head.
Albon has also started 2024 as the lead Williams driver after out-qualifying and out-finishing Sargeant at the Bahrain GP and the Saudi Arabian GP. The 27-year-old got P15 in Sakhir and P11 in Jeddah. Sargeant only finished in P20 and P14 as the American fights for his F1 career.
Williams team principal James Vowles opted to give Sergeant a second season in Formula 1 in December. His predecessor, Jost Capito, had only given the Florida native a single-season contract for 2023. Sargeant is on another single-season contract for 2024 and must deliver.
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