06 October 2023 , 15:30
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Logan Sargeant said he had no idea that his boss James Vowles was planning to publicly back him for a place on the 2024 Formula 1 grid.
His seat at Williams is the only one on the grid still to be set in stone for next year. And, given the American still hasn't scored a point in his debut year in the sport, the external pressure has been mounting.
But that doesn't seem to be the case internally. Vowles has made it clear on many occasions that he wants to be patient with Sargeant and give him as much time as possible to develop.
And last week he declared in a video released by the team that his plan is for Sargeant to continue to drive for Williams next year. "Logan has very clear targets that he has to hit before the end of the season and we're working with him continuously," he said.
"That's the important point – we're working with him. We want him to succeed, and we want him in the car next year. This is very much on us as well.
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"We have taken someone straight from Formula 2 without any significant testing, put a day and a half in Bahrain in this car, and then wished them well on a season that has been awfully challenging for rookie drivers, full stop.
"We will continue to work with Logan and invest in Logan, as we want him to succeed. He's on a journey with us as Williams. We have a young driver programme that we will continue to invest in. Only at the point where all of us come to the conclusion that we've reached the end of that road will we make any decisions. But we're nowhere near that yet."
Questioned about those quotes as he faced reporters at the Qatar Grand Prix, Sargeant said he was not expecting such a statement but that it had been a pleasant surprise. "It’s always nice, I mean, from my side, I talk to James every single weekend. I knew that before anything was put on social media. It was just sort of a nice surprise, really," he said.
"I didn’t know that was coming. But at the end of the day, I have to just keep working hard, keep my head down, and try to be better. Japan, including the lap until the last corner in quali, was my best weekend to this point, 100 percent. I built it up nicely, did everything I needed to, I was just too heavy on the right foot in the last corner and that's how quickly it can go wrong.
"I think, realistically, now it's just more important to have a clean weekend and not go for every last hundredth, even if that means I'm leaving a tenth or two on the table."