Williams Is Replacing Sargeant: What You Need to Know

The shocking news reached fans worldwide today that American driver Logan Sargeant was being replaced with F2 Williams junior driver Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the 2024 season. This change will be implemented as quickly as the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, until Carlos Sainz moves from Ferrari to take the seat at the beginning of the 2025 season. While the decision itself wasn't all too surprising to many fans, the way in which the Williams team went about announcing the change shocked many.

So what exactly was it that Williams did, and why was the manner in which it was done so surprising for fans of the sport around the world?

Announcing the New Driver First

The first questionable aspect of this new change being announced was the order in which the driver changes were released to the public. In replacing Sargeant with F2 driver Colapinto, Williams proceeded to first announce that Colapinto was going to be racing for Williams for the rest of the season before saying that Sargeant was leaving the team. While there's no particular formula saying how these kind of changes should be brought to the attention of the public, it seems to be only respectful and sportsmanlike to thank the old driver for their time with the team and announce their departure before announcing the new driver. After all, the old driver is still a part of the team and deserves a decent send-off before the team moves on to someone else.

This is now twice that Williams has done this, both times in regard to Logan Sargeant's departure from the team. The first instance was with Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz joining Williams for the 2025 season, and now with Colapinto replacing Sargeant for the last nine races of the 2024 season. Despite the team principle James Vowles thanking Sargeant for his time and effort with the team, the gesture still seems slightly insensitive and could have probably been handled a little better overall.

The Timing

One of the biggest things that shocked fans about the announcement was the timing in which the change happened. This announcement came directly one race after summer break ended, when the Williams team had three weeks to ponder what to do about Sargeant's seat. In that time, no decision was made by the team, instead coming out to the public after the Dutch Grand Prix with only nine races left in the season. The timing of this decision suggests that the change was decided upon quite quickly, perhaps within the span of 24 hours. Most likely, Sargeant's expensive crash in Free Practice 3 of the Dutch Grand Prix is what sealed his fate, as the team was highly upset at so much money being wasted over Sargeant's unnecessary crash.

Being Replaced with a Rookie

Perhaps the most confusing aspect of all was the fact that Franco Colapinto was chosen as Logan Sargeant's replacement. In releasing a statement about why the decision was made in the first place, Vowles stated that the change was made to maximize the team's point scoring in the midst of such a tight mid-field battle. So this begs the question: why replace an arguably more experienced driver with a rookie who has only been in the seat of an F1 car twice for practice runs? If what Vowles said was the true and sole reason for the change, why would they have chosen Colapinto as the replacement?

For current standings in F2 at the moment, Colapinto sits sixth on the championship leaderboard. He is a decent driver and has a lot of potential to offer the team in the races coming up, but there were a few better choices to pick from to replace Sargeant. At one point, both Mercedes reserve driver Mick Schumacher and RB reserve driver Liam Lawson were mentioned as possible replacement options. Both of these drivers would have been able to provide Vowles and the Williams team with potentially more point scoring opportunities, as they are significantly more experienced in an F1 car than Colapinto is.

Ultimately, Formula 1 is a highly competitive and ruthless sport, so it doesn't come a complete surprise that a driver who underperforms gets dropped. But the way in which Williams chose to give Sargeant's seat to Colapinto was slightly odd and could have been executed better. No matter what, what's been done is done, and it's now time for fans to see what Franco Colapinto can bring to the table for the remainder of the season.