James Vowles tells 23-year-old Williams driver he has to be the ‘surprise of the season’

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Williams Racing team principal has told young driver Logan Sargeant that he has to be the ‘surprise of the season’ in 2024 after a difficult rookie campaign.

It was a far from ideal opening day of testing for Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon who both had problems on track.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, James Vowles admitted that the American appears to be more confident this year but is under pressure to perform.

Vowles tells Sargeant to be the surprise of the season

When the chequered flag came down at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, 19 of the 20 drivers on the grid that day knew what the future held for 2024.

The only man who was unsure whether he would be returning to Formula 1 was Logan Sargeant.

The American rookie had only recorded one top-10 finish in his first season and that came in Austin when Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were both disqualified.

He was shown up by teammate Alex Albon who almost single-handedly secured a seventh-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship for Williams.

Albon is vastly more experienced than Sargeant, but the gulf between the two drivers was much wider than that between fellow rookie Oscar Piastri and his teammate Lando Norris.

However, Vowles kept his faith in Sargeant but has told the 23-year-old he has to be the ‘surprise of the season’ in 2024.

There are plenty of drivers who would love to race for the team in 2025 and beyond.

They may get that opportunity should Sargeant not repay the faith Williams have shown in him.

2024 is a make-or-break season for Logan Sargeant

Talking about the 23-year-old, Vowles said: “What you see out of him and when you interview him now, he has a confidence that was not there last year, he’s a different personality.

“He’s now seen these tracks, he knows what to expect, he knows the pressure that’s going to be on his shoulders, he knows as the car steps up, he has to step up to also match that.

“His training machine has completely changed. I spoke about the car, the design, the methodologies changing, the same with him.

“He knows that what he was doing last year, that’s not fit for purpose anymore, he has to step it up.

“He has to be the surprise of the season and use the knowledge base that he spent 12 months gathering to good effect.

“And as I said, you can see that in body language and confidence already and he’s now got an opportunity to take that to the track and translate it there.”

Sargeant will hope that he can convince Vowles he made the right choice to keep him on for another season and will hope to spring a surprise or two on Williams’s rivals.

They pushed their winter development to the limit and that may explain why they ran the fewest laps of the ten teams during pre-season testing on Wednesday.

Williams still had some issues to resolve and although they don’t appear to be major problems, in an age of F1 where reliability issues are so rare, it does put them on the back foot.