Experts are divided on Sargent

The news that Williams has extended Logan Sargent’s contract for another season could have been predicted in advance. The team tried not to publicly criticize the American racer, giving him time until the end of the season and believing that he had still made the necessary progress. However, not everyone agrees with this.

The opinions of The Race experts are divided – for example, Mark Hughes is not surprised by Williams’ decision, while Gary Anderson, a former racing car designer, believes there are more promising candidates on the market than Sargent.

Mark Hughes: “Sargent didn’t perform convincingly enough for the team to extend his contract without thinking twice about it. But at the same time, he’s not so bad that a replacement for him was urgently needed.

About this time a year from now, a whole host of interesting talents will appear, but they won’t be ready for Formula 1 yet. So if you change Sargent now, you would at least only have to sign a short-term contract with someone – so why not give Logan the opportunity to apply the experience gained in 2023?

He has shown promise periodically and now it is his job to put those glimpses from last year together so he can perform more consistently in his second season in Formula 1.

Williams’ decision doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Gary Anderson: “Certainly, the decision to extend his contract is not just down to the fact that he deserves it. Let’s start with the fact that he is not fast enough, not stable enough, and besides, his accidents are very expensive for the team.

But that’s not the only problem: thanks to him, the team wasted time. While the folks at Williams are busy making parts to replenish the inventory used to repair Sargett’s crashed car, they are not working on making new, improved chassis components.

He may only take a temporary spot in the team next year until Williams’ talent selection system offers someone else. But I’m sure there are already other candidates who are more promising than him.

However, he is the only American among the drivers in the championship, so to some extent Williams’ decision was probably made with the blessing of Liberty Media.”