Correct decision imo. Give rookies one season to settle in and one to prove themself. But he definitely needs to up the ante.
But did he really show any trend of improvement over the course of the season? I’m genuinenly asking, but it didn’t appear like it to me.
If there isn’t much of an indication he’s improving, why would anyone expect better results next year? It’s not like he’s going to have opportunity to improve his pace or consistency during the off-season.
I would say there was some improvement In the last third of season. He wasn’t crashing anymore and was consistent in the time difference (more or less) to albon as well.
On top of that, we just don’t see the data the team is seeing when it comes to an improvement.
One other thing to keep in mind. There is a supposedly very talented new driver starting in F2 next year that could drive for Williams in 2025, so that could play into the decision as well. Although I just looked for it and couldn’t find it. I think Alex Jaques talked abiut it in the last F2 sessions.
He definitely seemed to find some confidence again during the last few races.
It seemed like mid-season he was super depressed and you could hear it on every team radio message.
I feel like when he had to retire due to the crazy heat the way the team treated him went a long way towards making him more confident in his seat.
That said I don’t think he’s a particularly good F1 driver when there is some amazing talent working as reserve on some of these teams.
Makes it officially first time drivers have remained same between seasons, I think.
Yeah, amazing stat and just shows you the challenge facing the current junior field. With the social media aspect mixed in, the investment in drivers is massive now and the costs to bringing new people in seem to make less and less sense
Not many teams can afford another Mazepin
I guess give him one more year but if he doesn’t challenge Albon maybe look elsewhere.
- Race: Alex Albon 18-3 Logan Sargeant (neither finished in Japan)
- Qualifying: Alex Albon 22-0 Logan Sargeant
Head to head numbers from: https://www.planetf1.com/news/f1-2023-head-to-head-qualifying-race-stats
Fully expected but strange that they waited so long. Seems like they were holding out for another option and nothing appeared.
Overall this is a great signing for them. It continues to build faith in their academy program, which hopefully should prove itself in the future. If they had dropped Sargeant for a RB/Merc Junior it would have definitely played against them for prospective signings.
