James Vowles Reflects on Logan Sargeant’s Sacking as the ‘Toughest Decision’ of His Career

Logan Sargeant destroyed the heavily upgraded FW46 in a wet FP3 session in Zandvoort that forced him to sit out the qualifying and ruined his race. Many thought that the decision to replace Sargeant with Franco Colapinto must have been made right after his crash.

But team principal James Vowles recently debunked that rumor by explaining that he decided to replace Sargeant on Monday morning after he had calmed down and emotions had no role to play in that decision.

He also explained that it was one of the most difficult decisions in his F1 career so far because he knew that the American driver was extremely passionate about F1 and had been working extremely hard to prove to the team that he belonged on the grid.

“It’s one of the toughest things I’ve had to do in my career seemingly in Williams I have quite a few of these but it really was very very difficult to take an individual that’s giving you everything and tell them it’s over and it’s done”, Vowles told Sky Sports F1.

Reflecting on his face of disappointment that was shown on live coverage after Sargeant’s crash, Vowles stated that it was because he saw all the hard work of the team going up in flames as the #2 driver’s car caught on fire after the crash.

Williams had a forgettable Dutch GP despite promising upgrades

Williams had brought a heavily upgraded FW46 in Zandvoort that was in the works for a long time back at the factory in Grove. However, Sargeant’s crash meant that they could not utilize the new package in at least one of the two garages.

Due to the car being destroyed and catching fire, Williams couldn’t even salvage those parts of the car that could have gotten through the impact without damage. And that’s what made Vowles particularly emotional.

“The face that you saw was one where I know just how hard the whole factory really worked to get that update on the car and I watched it burn. And that’s tough, to me, it’s an update that puts us now in a situation where we’re in the points and able to fight in the points and it was a tough, a bitter pill to swallow at that point”, Vowles added.

Williams would have got some consolation when Alex Albon qualified the car in P8 on pure pace meaning that they do now have the pace to score points consistently. However, Albon’s disqualification due to the floor body being slightly over the limit as per FIA’s technical regulations meant that both drivers had their weekend ruined.