23-year-old F1 driver’s chances of being retained for 2025 season look ‘impossible’ right now

Follow us on Google Discover

Williams driver Logan Sargeant had to wait until after the season finale in Abu Dhabi to discover his fate for this season, but it appears to be much more unlikely that he’ll be on the grid in 2025.

After Alex Albon’s phenomenal performance last year, all eyes were on whether Logan Sargeant had done enough to earn a second season in Formula 1.

Writing on The Race, journalist Jack Benyon has admitted that he’s not sure the 23-year-old has much time left to impress in F1 before the next generation of drivers eye up his seat.

At the start of the 2023 season, all eyes were on the three rookies and their different routes into Formula 1.

Nyck de Vries starred in his cameo at Monza with Williams, earning him a seat at AlphaTauri before he was replaced just 10 races into the year.

McLaren star Oscar Piastri spent a year as Alpine’s reserve driver but took no time to get up to speed and had one of the most impressive debut seasons in recent times.

And then there was Logan Sargeant, who finished fourth in F2 in 2022 behind Felipe Drugovich, Theo Pourchaire and Liam Lawson.

Sargeant was a surprising choice for Williams and will have to seriously improve this year to maintain his place on the grid in 2025.

Otherwise, his old F2 rivals or a pair of stars taking part in the series this year could be lined up to take his spot.

Sargeant retaining Williams seat for 2025 looking ‘impossible’

Writing about the 23-year-old’s future, Benyon said: “The big issue for Sargeant is that he hasn’t matched any of Albon’s peaks when it really matters, and chomping at the bit this year are two massive, some might even say prodigious, talents on the Formula 2 grid.

“Let’s state this how it is. If Sargeant was in the 2024 Formula 2 rookie class, he wouldn’t be graduating to Formula 1 the following year.

“The relative weakness of his Formula 2 rivals in 2022 and the fact he finished fourth in the championship plus his lack of a seat-buying budget mean he’d be at a huge disadvantage now.

“The firepower of [Andrea Kimi] Antonelli and [Ollie] Bearman coming through combined with Sargeant’s underwhelming 2023 make it impossible for me to believe he keeps that seat in 2025.

“A far better season against Albon, or perhaps even Albon leaving Williams for an opportunity elsewhere, would be the only way a chance opens up for Sargeant to stay in F1 beyond 2024.

“There’s just been very little evidence he can pull off what he needs to, so far.”

Sargeant will know he has to prove a lot of people wrong to make sure he’s still on the grid in 2025.

Williams might lose Alex Albon with other teams circling the Thai driver and the team might not want to go into next season with two new drivers.

However, the idea that Sargeant could be the senior driver in an f1 team in 12 months seems unrealistic right now.

While he admits to having learned a lot from Albon, the best way to improve in Formula 1 is to get track time under your belt.

Sargeant has one more year to prove he belongs at the pinnacle of motorsport, otherwise, another young driver might be offered that opportunity.