Logan Sargeant to miss Australian Grand Prix
Updated: Friday 22nd March. Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant will miss the Australian Grand Prix following team-mate Alex Albon’s heavy crash in practice.
Williams has chosen to prioritise the Thai racer who has brought it the bulk of its points over the last two seasons in F1. Albon was forced to miss second practice following his FP1 crash, and with Williams not having a third chassis on site in Australia the decision was taken to switch Albon into Sargeant’s car for the weekend.
Speaking of the news Sargeant said: “This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it’s absolutely not easy. I am however here for the team and will continue to contribute in any way that I can this weekend to maximise what we can do.”
Albon added: “I have to be totally honest and say that no driver would want to give up his seat. I would never want anything like this to happen. Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won’t be easy for him to take.
“At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximise our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible.”
Explaining the situation Williams Team Principal James Vowles called the lack of spare chassis “unacceptable. “It’s unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis,” he said. “But it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future.”
Thanking Sargeant for his “graceful acceptance” and “dedication to the team” Vowles continued: “While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend.”