P1 with Matt and Tommy - BREAKING: Williams DROP Logan Sargeant for the rest of the season!

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

It seems like his crash this weekend was the final straw: Logan Sargeant has been dropped by Williams for the rest of the season. But was it the right decision? And why did it take this long? And, wait, WHO is replacing him?!P1 Live is heading to North America this Fall! New York is sold out, Toronto is nearly sold out and all other shows have very limited tickets. Click here to get your tickets before it's too late!Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to bonus episodes, our classic race series, every P1 episode ad-free and access to our Discord server where you can chat with other F1 fans!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast, Emergency Edition. Yes, that's right. We are here with the news that Logan Sargent has been dropped for the rest of the season by Williams. And to replace him is Franco Colapinto. Now, Tommy, what were your first thoughts when you got the news? My first thoughts was we've just done a lot of recording. And I was about to leave the house and then you message me saying, Logan's gone and I was like oh my word and yeah my my first reaction was that is not who I expected to replace him at all

but we'll get into that that later but am I surprised that he's gone not really based on kind of the talk and how the rumours are really ramped up absolutely so let's dive into some questions let's get into the nitty gritty of what exactly has gone on here so the first question comes from team vowels and it is why not sooner I feel as though the crash in Zandvo was the last straw for James Vals and the Williams team. I think that they've wrapped him in cotton wool as much as they possibly could. And then at some point they just went, nah, now we're going to start flirting with other drivers. And then they obviously signed Carlos Sines for next year.

And it's a really interesting decision. it has to be said. Obviously, why not sooner? They gave him a chance. I think they wanted to let him have the rest of the season, but they cannot afford to be having these monumental crashes, especially ones that are absolutely driver error, like it was in free practice three at Zamvort.

And, look, James has had to make a difficult call as team principal, and it's fair enough. He was given enough time. He could have just driven like Joe Guan Yu, nice and slowly and not crashed but he did and it's not just costing the team this year in terms of potential points

but also with the damages so I think it's the right time and we'll get into the decision for the person actually replacing him very shortly yeah I think it is the right decision to make it does seem like the Zandvot crash because as we say in our drive ratings which you'll see later his race wasn't all that bad

but it's just another high profile crash. There's not many drivers that have had only one and a half seasons and you can search their name and crash and see so many examples. You know, he's got like, God knows what, like a 15-minute crash compilation video from such a short career. And when you've got that, unfortunately, in this day and age of Formula One and budget caps and things, it's not good enough and it costs the team more than just under delivering. And if he had that raw speed as well, then you'd kind of forgive a few crashes. We know drivers, you know, I saw some horrendous takes of people going, oh, why is Logan under threat when Alex Albin crashed the car and are they going to give

Albin has done a brilliant job and has whitewashed Logan Sargent the entire time they've been teammates. So Logan hasn't shown any speed and he's also crashed. And the high profile crashes for me, it's clear that that was the moment that that, that, that, whether it was before Zandvort or they've made the decision after it, you do wonder if there was that, well, one more high-profile crash, just get to the end of the season. Surely you should be fine. Because there was no need to replace him, really, because of the science thing.

Exactly. And any Albon slander or why he's not coming under fire, because he scores points. I know he hasn't scored many, but Williams hasn't been in a position to score points, but he's still got four under his name this season. So let's now, I guess, because I think it's fair to say, we know how we feel about Logan's performance over the last season and a half.

I don't think there's much more to add than not quick enough. Crash is a lot. Yeah, I could go on for like 40 minutes saying that I don't think he maybe should have been there in the first place and they rushed him in too early. He never had the CV to back it, really. No, did he? I think it was, he never even had the super license points. It was kind of, it was so borderline, wasn't it before they hired him? and it's quite clear that them rushing into that was a mistake because he's not been delivered.

And unfortunately, the high pressure of Formula One has just been too much for him. And it is for some drivers. You know, it is the pinnacle of Formula One. So as much as we kind of... Pinnacle of motorspanter. Yeah, it's the pinnacle. Sorry, did I say pinnacle of F1? Pinnacle of motorsport.

And it is the most high pressure environment. And that is what you expect from Formula One. and it is sink or swim and Logan sunk. Not everybody is built like Tom Bellingham, I'll tell you that for free. Well, exactly. I'm surprised you weren't announced too fair to me. Seven minute laps around Valencia in a Formula E car, can we? Absolutely not.

Now, let's get on to the driver that is replacing him. Franco Colapinto, who is currently sixth place in the Formula 2 championship. Now, I believe there's two sides to this that we need to dive. into first and foremost, a question from O2, Rachel Rebecca. Why Colapinto and not any of the other names that have been rumoured? In my opinion, from what it looks like to me, is that none of the other drivers that have been rumoured, you know, the likes of Antonelli, Lawson, Schumacher, I don't feel like any of those have actually been able to or allowed to, because I would imagine as drivers, they would probably jump at the opportunity to be racing in form.

Formula 1, no matter where it is, doesn't matter what team. But clearly there are ties there that perhaps aren't opening them up to a Williams seat. You know, for example, Liam Lawson is tied with Red Bull? Is there realistically going to be a chance there to hop into a Williams for a few races? Probably not. Surprise more so, maybe with Mick Schumacher. But to go with Colapinto, who, look, he's doing okay. He's got a race win in Formula 2.

but similarly to Logan Sargent and perhaps to what we've said, you know, recently with the signing of Jack Dewan, these CVs don't really scream, I'm Formula One ready. So if they are trying to sort of reduce crashes, I'm not sure whether this is a role of the dice,

in my opinion. But they've clearly felt so strongly in Logan's performance to being too weak that they're making this kind of shot in the dark. Yeah, it's an interesting point, actually. I hadn't really sort of thought about the fact that, yeah, you're essentially replacing a driver that the only reason, because like we said earlier, there was no need to really replace Logan because they've got their driver for next year. So they didn't need to assess a driver, if you like. it's not like a

V-carb with Lawson or whatever where they're kind of like they think he's going to be in because you can argue with Colapinto I mean this is another debate but like even if he like sets the world alike they've got Albin and Sites locked in for a while now

so where so if Colapinto does do an unbelievable job Williams can't accommodate him so from that side it is strange so it makes you think that it's I like to see that they've actually

you know given a young driver and they've promoted him a chance is a CV spectacular no it's also not not horrendous but yeah it is a risk

because essentially he is he is a rookie but I think it was time it's a risk but for me if it was between him and Mick Schumacher I'm personally glad

they didn't go with Nick Schumacher because I think that you know, I don't think that is fair for a lot of young drivers because Mick did have an opportunity and I don't think he delivered and also had a lot of crashes. So I'm glad to see that they went for someone different, but yeah, no doubt is a risk because you're putting someone in a, I know he's done some practice sessions and things, but to put him into a race car and do races halfway through the season is incredibly difficult. It is. I think from a Franco Colopinto perspective, this is an amazing opportunity. This is a Liam Lawson sense of, ah, let me show you what I can do. So from his perspective and his career, this is unbelievable. From a William's perspective, if he is crash happy, you will be questioning why would they even make this decision. But hey, it's certainly exciting. It's cool to see a new driver on the grid.

Yeah, I'm really pleased with that. The question from Mel 16SSA, or Melissa, I assume that name is supposed to be. Do you think Franco will do better than Logan? It's hard to say. I don't think he will be out of the blocks better than Logan Sargent. It's hard to think any other way of his first race going into that seat that he will do better than a Logan Sargent that was half a second maybe off of Alex Albon. is it realistic to expect Franco

to hit anywhere near those targets with the nine remaining races that we have? I don't think so. But it's a win-win situation for Franco Colopinto. He can just do what he needs to do to try and impress and go from there. But it's not exactly the highest benchmark for him to try and beat, is it?

It really isn't. If he gets anywhere near Albin, you're right, it's win-win for him because no one will expect anything of him. Alban has whitewashed Logan, so if he's anywhere near Albin, we thought the same with Lawson that, how will he do?

He's thrown in at the deep end, did a great job. Olly Behrman, thrown at the deep end, did a great job. I, yeah, it wouldn't be like, I think there are a lot of Formula 2 drivers now that the standard is quite high and you have no breakout Formula 2 star. is that so many of these drivers are ready to give it a go in Formula One

and do a solid job which we've seen with Bearman with Lawson. So I think it is a good decision to try your young driver and give them the chance. It's just the only weird side for me is the fact that if he does do an amazing job, they're kind of going to find themselves in a, Liam Lawson situation where they've got a really young talent. You know, imagine he goes in there.

This is obviously a big if, and a lot of people think I'm ridiculous, but if he goes in there and is either close to Alburn or even beats Alburn, I know that's quite far-fetched, but you might. We'd all be going, oh my word, this kid's amazing. Now what do Williams do? Because they can't accommodate him for like three years.

I think what I would probably say on the flip side to that is that Williams would then feel in a much stronger position, perhaps if, let's say, Albon, as much as he loves Williams, he will jump ship at the second that a top seat is available to him. Carlos Science will as well. I've seen, you know, again, rumors that perhaps if Antonelli doesn't do very well at Mercedes, that signs can actually go there and there wouldn't be an issue and there's been agreements, whatever, you know, but you take all of this with a pinch of salt. So I think for Williams, it actually is a good thing that if Franco Colopinto is amazing,

because if Albon starts going, well, I'm going to leave if blah, blah, blah, all right, well, we've got Colopinto, mate. So you can go do your thing. So having someone in the wings is pretty good, I would say. Obviously, if Albon Anzines does stay for two to three years, then Franco Colopinto will find himself in a difficult situation. But then he'll have something on his CV to look elsewhere if he does really perform in the second half the season.

So I don't think we've seen that Jack doing, with Jack doing and Oscar Piastri, actually, that you, there was that kind of, because it had happened in the past, that kind of reputation that if you don't go, if you don't finish Formula 2 and go straight in Formula 1, you can't get there. You can't have a year break.

But we've now seen Jack Dewan do that. We saw Piastri do that. So it can happen. So maybe, you know, he does see out. Formula 2 does it next year, then can be like a Williams reserve or whatever. And it is like they're kind of future-proofing their team, I guess. Absolutely. How old is Franco Colomito?

21 years old. So he's got plenty of time on his side if he does manage to prove himself and then has to wait a little bit. And I think that pretty much sums up our very quick emergency podcast reaction to Logan sergeant being dropped. Yeah, the right decision for me personally. I think that it's obviously a bit of a shock that it's Colapinto when we've had all these names being thrown around but alas it'll still be exciting to see if he can do anything

when it comes to Alex Albon alongside him. Tommy what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts are that yeah I think Colapinto joining adds a whole new kind of exciting element to the Italian Grand Prix because this year I think it was a massive shame that we saw no rookies or new talent on the grid. So the fact that we're going to see a new driver is something that will create a lot of intrigue

and an interesting kind of thing to look out, even if the best he's possibly going to be able to do. Although that being said, it just occurred to me that he's jumping into a Williams at Monza, which is their track. Well... He's going to win straight off the bat. It's a great opportunity actually. This is a Nick DeVries all over again, isn't it?

So I look forward to Franco Colopinto joining V-Cob the year after, doing terrible and getting fired. No, I'm joking. Yeah, it's a great opportunity, see what he can do, and what a first race to be able to do at Monza. He'll have all the time to jump in.

We know Williams are good around there. So yeah, very exciting. Lovely stuff. Well, that is it. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you very soon. Monza this weekend. I'm already in a Ferrari top, as you can see.

Lots of love. Take care. Bye. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.