Giedo van der Garde baffled by Logan Sargeant gaffe from Azerbaijan Grand Prix organisers

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Logan Sargeant will have to watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from home after losing his Williams seat. Academy driver Franco Colapinto stepped into his car for the previous race in Italy.

Team principal James Vowles ran out of patience with Sargeant after a string of errors and underwhelming performances. The American’s fiery crash in the final practice session before the Dutch GP rendered his position untenable.

Sargeant’s results were poor, even for a team in Williams’ position – 18th, 15th, DNF, 20th, 19th, 11th, 17th, 17th, 16th from Imola onwards. He narrowly missed out on points at Silverstone but wasn’t able to build on that moment of promise.

Alex Albon has only scored six points in the other car, two of which came at Monza. But Vowles felt as if Sargeant wouldn’t be able to extract the most from an upgraded FW46.

Indeed, his successor Colapinto looked a level above from the outset. While he suffered a Q1 exit in Italy, he recovered in the race to a commendable P12.

Sargeant already knew that he’d be losing his seat come the end of the season. Williams have signed Carlos Sainz to partner Albon, but that seemed to further damage his confidence rather than relieve the pressure.

Giedo van der Garde reacts as Baku organisers display Logan Sargeant photo

To promote the race in Baku, organisers have displayed pictures of this year’s drivers in the local area. However, images recently circulated on social media showed that they had forgotten to replace the photo of Sargeant.

Speaking on De Race Show, former Caterham driver Giedo van der Garde offered his baffled reaction. He suspects that those responsible for executing the marketing strategy were unaware of the change.

The banners would have been produced ‘months ago’, he says. Sargeant isn’t the only driver whose seat has come under immediate threat, so it’s always risky to look too far into the future in F1.

Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez have both been trying to save off the mid-season sack too. The former looks likely to survive until Abu Dhabi, but Perez’s future remains in doubt.

“What the?” Van der Garde said of the Sargeant mistake. “Those guys hang things up and they don’t even know who has changed or which seat has gone where or that Colapinto has joined. That flag is printed a few months ago and of course now they have different drivers.”

Logan Sargeant told what’s next after Williams axe

There were no comments from Sargeant in the press release announcing his exit. He did subsequently release a statement on social media thanking Williams and expressing his pride, only to delete it.

Martin Brundle backed Vowles’ decision on the basis that ‘F1 is not a finishing school’. In his eyes, Sargeant didn’t deliver, and therefore he deserved to be replaced.

According to Nicky Catsburg, Sargeant now has the chance to reset after 18 months of ‘misery’ in F1. There were constant questions over his worthiness for a spot on the grid.

While some have defended him, his career in the sport is almost certainly over at this point. Sargeant has previously been linked with IndyCar, and a move to another series could be in his best interests.