Logan Sargeant has come under increasing pressure at Williams this season as he has been unable to match teammate Alex Albon. The only defense that Sargeant perhaps had so far for his poor performances is that he is a rookie. However, AlphaTauri reserve driver Liam Lawson may have just damaged all of the 22-year-old’s defenses. Glenn Freeman made exactly this point while speaking on the most recent episode of The Race F1 podcast. Freeman made it clear that if Sargeant is to keep his seat, he needs to improve his performance significantly.
Freeman believes that Lawson has shown that being a rookie is no excuse in a competitive sport such as F1. The New Zealander has impressed Freeman greatly as he has already scored his first points in F1 within his first three races. In stark contrast, Sargeant is yet to score his first F1 points after 15 races this season.
Liam Lawson has increased the pressure on Logan Sargeant significantly
The presenters on the most recent episode of The Race F1 podcast discussed what the future holds for Liam Lawson after his impressive few races with AlphaTauri. They discussed if the New Zealander could perhaps replace Williams’ Logan Sargeant, who has still not found his feet at the team.
While answering the same, Glenn Freeman said, “I think it is a great idea. When I first heard of (it), that made a lot of sense. On the Williams side, I think you would want a commitment beyond a year“. This is because Freeman believes that Williams will not want to take Lawson if Red Bull just offer him for a year.
The F1 expert believes that the Wantage-based team will want a strong driver for the long term. He then went on to add why Williams would not want to be in a situation where, after a year, they are once again looking for a potential teammate for Albon. After stating the same, Freeman added, “I think Lawson has done such a good job that he has actually damaged the case for the defense of Sargeant“.
Freeman then concluded about why it no longer makes sense for people to defend Sargeant for being a rookie. He gave the example of Lawson to explain his point.
The F1 expert said that the 22-year-old came in midseason without any preparation and still managed to hit the ground running. Another driver who has impressed from the get-go this season has been Oscar Piastri.
Piastri’s impressive performance has helped him secure a new deal
Oscar Piastri signed a three-year contract extension on September 20 after delivering some outstanding performances for McLaren this season. Despite only being in his rookie season, the Australian has given more experienced McLaren teammate Lando Norris a tough fight.
While Piastri perhaps has suffered much more in the race as compared to Norris, he has been mightily quick on a one-lap pace. As a result, the 2021 F2 champion has been able to outqualify his British teammate on multiple occasions this season.
Considering that Piastri has been so impressive, this is another reason why the pressure is on Logan Sargeant. Hence, despite all the support Williams has shown him so far, the American absolutely still needs to hit the ground running as soon as possible if he is to keep his seat on the team.
