Метка: Logan Sargeant

Vowles reveals «multi-million» dollar reason behind Sargeant/Colapinto switch

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Williams team principal James Vowles has explained that the developmental impact of incidents was behind the decision to swap Logan Sargeant for Franco Colapinto this year.

Sargeant was granted a second season with the Grove-based outfit and, while showing flashes of speed in the first half of the campaign, a number of incidents — including at his final event at Zandvoort — proved costly and saw him dropped from the team.

Colapinto has impressed since taking over, scoring points again at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, though he currently doesn’t have a race seat for next year with Carlos Sainz already confirmed to be joining Alex Albon.

Speaking on the latest James Allen on F1 podcast, Vowles revealed the «multi-million» dollar reasoning behind making the switch.

«Have a look towards teams moving towards experienced drivers over the last few years, rather than perhaps the rookie base. Obviously, within Williams, we had Logan in the car, more the rookie base but that’s changed in 25,» he said.

«Part of the reason, the drive behind that is that the learning cycle required for any of these individuals to be successful on this world stage, amongst peers, they will make mistakes.

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46, jumps out of his car after a crash

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46, jumps out of his car after a crash

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

«But a mistake could be costly. Some of ours this year are multi-million, as simple as that, and your multi-million now goes into just replenishing stock of what you had, rather than building future updates and so it’s a finite pool available to you.

«I think you’re going to see… you have seen a lot of investment in that. There’s other ways that we’re moving forward, and in my DNA and Williams’s DNA is investing in future generations, both within graduates for employing and early careers but also in drivers.

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«As you’ll know, that was really [in] my heart for many, many years and remains there, and it’s why when we came to the end of the road with Logan, it was Franco we put in the car, to make sure that we continued investment in our academy programme, which I think has great success and I hope the world can see the future success it contains.

«A statistic I saw last year was that Max had no accidents, no real substantive crash damage. I’m not sure if that’s entirely correct, or maybe part way through the year I watched it, but that’s millions that you can now put into the developments that others wouldn’t have. So it is about being fast and efficient but keeping as much on the table as possible.»

You can listen to the latest podcast episode here:

 



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Sargeant baffled about not being told of illegal F1 safety car overtake

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


During the caution period to remove Valtteri Bottas’s stricken Sauber, Sargeant was running down the start-finish straight towards Turn 1 as his Haas rival emerged from the pits following a change of tyres.

But while Hulkenberg reached the critical safety car line that determines the running order a split second in front, Sargeant’s speed offset and momentum left him thinking he had got there first so he slotted in ahead.

Then, with no feedback from his pit wall or the FIA over needing to give the position back, Sargeant was handed a 10-second penalty after the racing resumed for what was ruled an illegal overtake.

Asked how hard the situation had been to read as he charged down to the first corner, Sargeant said: “There’s a bit of elevation there as well and I guess it just makes things hard to see when cars are split by quite a big distance.

 “To my side, I thought I was way ahead. I didn’t think it was even close so, to me, it was no discussion. So, to hear about that at the end of the race was a bit strange. I don’t know if there’s any way the FIA could maybe give us some feedback.

“We were under safety car for ages, I don’t know why they didn’t just tell me to give the position back. Obviously, I would’ve done so, had they said, but to my knowledge, I thought I was way ahead.”

Sargeant’s subsequent 10-second penalty dropped him to 17th in the final classification, and came at the end of a weekend where he struggled to find consistent performance from his Williams – having complained in qualifying the car felt “disconnected”.

A major set-up change for the race prompted a pitlane start and, while there was some encouraging early pace, he thinks circumstances worked against him with the timing of the safety car.

Plus, an inability to get the hard tyre switched on, left him enduring what he said was one of the most “painful” stints he has experienced in F1.

“There were good moments, bad moments,” he said. “I think the start of the race on the softs was strong and when we put on the medium tyre, we were in a really good place.

“But we probably could’ve done without that safety car because we would’ve gone medium, medium and that would’ve suited us much better.

“We put the hard tyre on, and I couldn’t even get it to switch on, and immediately destroyed the fronts.

“From that point on, it was a massive, massive struggle. Bit confused about that last stint and probably one of the most painful ones I’ve had. We will see if we can do better going forward.”



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