James Vowles' decision to remove Logan Sargeant from his intact Williams in Australia was a tough but correct decision, says Thomas Maher...
James Vowles' decision to take Logan Sargeant out of his car in Australia was tough, but the right call...
Astonishing enough in its own right for a team in 2024, when everyone is supposedly swimming in money from the huge audience and sponsorship cash invested in F1, the team simply didn’t have another chassis manufactured on time after facing pre-season pressures in the factory. But Vowles denied this was the case, saying, “The fact that we signed him shows you I have faith in him. This year, I think you’ve seen he’s been closer to Alex than before.
The most famous example was at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix when Bottas had the legs on Hamilton for the race win but Vowles instructed him aside to allow the British driver to take the win as he was embroiled in a championship fight with Sebastian Vettel. Vowles also explained that Sargeant’s confidence will likely come back very quickly once he’s back in the car, saying the American driver understands the dynamic of the team sport.
Unfortunately, it ended up being in vain, as Williams didn’t quite have the race pace to challenge for points with Albon on the day.Lewis Hamilton’s worst F1 season starts and what happened next: Where could 2024 potentially rank? Vowles explained the reasons for the delay in introducing the third chassis into the rotation, revealing it could be as late as China before it’s ready – well over a month since the first race of the championship.“As we went through large changes in organisation, adding performance and technology changes in the back end and process, we started to push out fundamentally certain elements of things.
To ensure harmony within the ranks, Vowles revealed he called the team together in Australia following his decision, and outlined how this apparent weakness should be viewed as a catalyst for further strengthening of the team.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
James Vowles reveals true extent of Alex Albon's Williams FW46 damageWilliams are down to one car after Alex Albon's Australian Grand Prix shunt, yet he is the one still driving...
Read more »
How Vowles is changing the culture at the Williams F1 teamHow difficult is it to change the culture of a Formula 1 team, especially one with decades of history but whose greatest successes were in the distant past?
Read more »
James Vowles grilled on 'damaging' Logan Sargeant call in spiky Ted Kravitz interview'Is it really worth it?'
Read more »
James Vowles grilled for Logan Sargeant decision in awkward interviewJames Vowles has been criticised for his decision to stop Logan Sargeant from racing at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.
Read more »
Vowles: “Very difficult” to rebuild Sargeant's confidence after Australian GP benchingWilliams insists it still has faith in Logan Sargeant but concedes that rebuilding the Formula 1 driver’s confidence will be “very difficult” after benching him for the Australian Grand Prix.
Read more »
Vowles: Current F1 regulations not a failure despite dirty air issueWilliams team principal James Vowles says that the current Formula 1 regulations are not a failure despite drivers finding it increasingly hard to follow rivals.
Read more »