2023-09-29 09:45:51
(Motorsport-Total.com) – After 16 of 22 race weekends in Formula 1 2023, Logan Sargeant is still the only permanent regular driver who does not yet have a championship point to his name. In addition, he has had several accidents since the summer break, most recently in Suzuka both in qualifying and in the race. Now the air is getting thin for the American. Or, as Formula 1 expert Marc Surer puts it: “He’s overwhelmed.”
Logan Sargeant has been criticized for a long time since the crash in Singapore
While the Williams team continues to support him externally, there are candidates lining up at team boss James Vowles’ door who want Sargeant’s cockpit. Felipe Drugovich, 2022 Formula 2 champion and currently a test driver at Aston Martin, is said to be a possibility. And Mick Schumacher also stopped by Vowles in Suzuka on Saturday.
Sargeant’s mistake in qualifying, when he flew out of the finish chicane, looked particularly unfortunate in the onboard replay. “It was actually just a small mistake,” says Dave Robson, head of vehicle development at Williams. “If you touch the grass in the curve, you immediately have a problem. It’s a shame.”
On Sunday, Sargeant collided with Valtteri Bottas in the hairpin. He says: “My wheels locked. I thought he had seen that and would pull to the inside, because it was clear that I would never, ever be able to make the corner. But he went to the outside and I had no chance “To prevent a collision.”
Ralf Schumacher: I often made mistakes too…
Sargeant suspects “that he didn’t see it,” but doesn’t want that to be seen as an excuse: “It was clearly my mistake.” SkyExpert Ralf Schumacher half defends him: “He doesn’t intentionally block his wheels. But unfortunately he attracts more attention through any driving mistakes than through fast laps.”
“It has often happened to me that I have produced scrap. If the result still works, that’s okay. But in his case, of course, there are no results and it slowly piles up,” says Schumacher. He fears that Sargeant will also lose favor with the mechanics: “They lose their nerve a bit because he keeps breaking something.”
Lists are currently circulating on the Internet that show how much damage to the vehicle the drivers have already caused in 2023. Sargeant is the dominant frontrunner in the so-called “World Destructors Championship”, with alleged damage of almost four million dollars. Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez follow in second and third place with 2.6 and 2.5 million respectively.
This will have consequences in the next races: “To a certain extent you no longer have the latest parts on the car,” explains Robson, “because they have relatively long lead times in production and then you have to ship them too “It’s too late to bring in big new parts this year. Even if you had the money for it.”
How Surer classifies the situation from the driver’s perspective
Surer can understand that the situation is becoming increasingly difficult for Sargeant. Comparisons to the negative spiral surrounding Mick Schumacher in the 2022 season cannot be dismissed: “Of course he is under pressure. He knows that he has to perform if he wants to stay in Formula 1. And he makes even more mistakes than that previously.”
“At times you might see that he might actually drive a car quite well,” says Surer in one Interview on the Formula1.de YouTube channel. “He was close to Albon, at least in some training sessions. You had the feeling that he was now getting it together. Since Williams got better, you had the feeling that he was getting it together now.”
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But: “I don’t think he can handle it because of his nerves. I think he puts himself under pressure and then mistakes happen to him. Stupid mistakes have also happened to him and I’m afraid that now he’s nervous and just does it even more mistakes. He’s simply overwhelmed,” says Surer.
Robson added: “His accidents inevitably make the headlines. That overshadows his solid performance. Suzuka actually ran really well. It’s a difficult track and he had a good Friday. But then he loses it on Saturday in the last corner of his first lap. These accidents since Zandvoort have pushed the good progress into the background.”
Is Sargeant’s crisis an opportunity for Mick Schumacher?
A driver change during the current season, as was recently discussed especially in Germany (because of Schumacher), does not seem to be an issue at Williams. We hear that Vowles is not convinced of Schumacher’s driving potential. And Surer also doesn’t believe that Vowles would dump Sargeant so brutally.
The former Formula 1 driver says regarding an immediate driver change: “Red Bull has this tendency. They do something like that. But I don’t think Williams has this tendency either. I think they let him drive through the season. And if he… increases, then he even has the chance to continue driving in 2024.”
“If you put him under pressure and say, if that happens once more, you’re out, then he’ll make even more mistakes. That’s why: Just let him drive and calm him down and say, it’ll work out once more at some point. Then the self-confidence will come back back,” says Surer.
The whole interview with Marc Surer regarding the shaky candidates Logan Sargeant, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll (19 minutes) is now available on the Formula1.de YouTube channel. (Subscribe to the channel now for free and never miss a new Formula 1 video!)
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