Why putting Albon in Sargeant's car will prove to be a mistake for Williams

 

  This evening, it was announced that Alexander Albon would race the Australian Grand Prix in Logan Sargeant's car as Albon had crashed his own car at the exit of turn 6. Mounting a kerb and veering off into a wall, causing damage to his chassis that is beyond repair or at least beyond repairing on time. 

  Though this decision makes some sense from a team standpoint, with them wanting to race their faster driver who has proven to be capable of delivering good results to the team, shoved aside is a hungry driver who is willing to prove himself and shoving him aside could prove to be a mistake for Williams.

  Before we get to that, we have to get a clearer view of both of the Williams drivers.

  On one side of the garage, you have Alexander Albon. The Thai driver is undoubtedly talented, rising through the ranks via the Red Bull junior programme, he amassed 2 podiums while driving for the senior Red Bull team. Though he would be dropped to make way for Sergio Perez, he would be offered a second chance in Formula 1 when Williams signed him for 2022.

  Williams' faith would pay off as in 2022, Albon would secure three points finishes including a tyre management masterclass in Australia where he could have done the whole race on one set of Hard tyres but had to pit on the final lap to comply with the regulations.

Albon's friend George Russell looks impressed at him after Albon qualified 4th at the Dutch GP.

  2023 would be better for Albon, picking up 7 points finishes and achieving a best finish of 7th position in two races, Monza and Canada. a standout performance could also be seen as he managed to qualify in fourth position with the Williams who's machinery should not even be anywhere close to the top 5. These performances along with the fact that he clean sweeped team-mate Sargeant in qualifying 22-0 would convincingly establish himself as the number one driver for the Williams team.

  On the other side of the Williams garage, you have American Logan Sargeant. A product of the Williams Driver Academy who funded him through the 2022 Formula 2 season, he showed promise by finishing in fourth in the standings and 12th place on debut at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sargeant en route to a 4th place standings finish after winning the British GP.

  Though this momentum would be disrupted in the very next race at Saudi Arabia where he would spin in qualifying and fail to make it into Q2. More mistakes followed for Sargeant as he would make it into Q3 and crash out of it in Zandvoort while team-mate Albon qualified in a stunning 4th. Crashing into the wall at Singapore and the final corner of Suzuka in qualifying. 

  Some glimpses of potential speed could be seen in making it into Q3 at Las Vegas and getting his singular point of the entire season at his home race in the United States GP.

  2024 is proving to be a pressure cooker for Sargeant, with various young drivers lurking and targeting his seat such as Kimi Antonelli and Zak O'Sullivan means that he has to perform and needs races to gain confidence and show Williams he is the man for the future.

  His season would start tricky, despite showing good pace his car would have issues and forced him a minute behind the rest of the field at the season opener in Bahrain. Though Jeddah would not be as bad and gives him some momentum to carry on into the season as he was close to his team-mate Albon during the race.

Sargeant locking up at turn 4 of the Bahrain Grand Prix after his steering wheel automatically set his brake bias up due to an issue.

  In Free Practice of the Australian Grand Prix, Alex Albon would slam into the wall at turn 7 and cause unrepairable damage to the chassis. Williams were unable to bring a spare one with them to Australia and that meant that Albon would have to withdraw as he does not have a car under him to drive for the Grand Prix. 

  This is a good chance for Logan, with confidence already low, this was the perfect opportunity to show Williams that with their full focus and no pressure from having a team-mate that he is capable of performing and delivering good results, he could even send a message out to Albon if he does do well. 

  Though, Williams would elect to put Albon into Sargeant's chassis. Meaning that Sargeant would have to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix because of a mistake and accident that wasn't his doing.

  This decision makes some sense from a team standpoint, Albon has already shown that he is capable of delivering good results especially at this track as last year he managed to qualify high into the top 10 in P8. However, the same can't be said from an ethical standpoint.

Albon covers his face in shame after realizing how much this mistake has cost him and the team.

  Opting to put Albon into Sargeant's car could diminish his already low confidence. Doing this is essentially Williams telling Sargeant that they don't trust him to be competitive and put in a good result in spite of them being a man down, which should be the basic trust of any team for their driver in F1 with a more recent example being Ferrari entrusting a young 18 year-old Oliver Bearman to quickly fill in for them at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

  This also means that Sargeant has one less race to prove himself worthy of another year in F1 and knowing this sport, this one race could make a world of difference. What Logan has to do now is take this to the chin and perhaps use this as motivation to prove that he can be the faster Williams driver and putting him aside this race is a mistake.