‘Irrelevant’ 23-y/o F1 driver ‘not quick enough’ in Saudi Arabian GP qualifying

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BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer Andrew Benson has branded Logan Sargeant of Williams as ‘irrelevant’ in masking Alpine’s ‘dark times’ in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP.

The 23-year-old posted the slowest time of the day at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Friday evening with a 1:29.526. Only Zhou Guanyu finished Q1 behind Sargeant on the leaderboard after the Sauber ace failed to complete any laps as mechanical issues blighted his session.

Sargeant’s time ensured Alpine did not have the slowest lap of the day with Esteban Ocon in P17 and Pierre Gasly taking P18. A mere 0.051 seconds split the trio. While Valtteri Bottas in the other Sauber car left Ocon, Gasly and Sargeant three-tenths of a second shy of the field.

Ocon and Gasly struggle amid Alpine’s poor start to 2024

Alpine would have feared ending another qualifying session as the slowest cars as Ocon and Gasly locked out the back of the grid at the Bahrain GP. Sargeant joined the French drivers at the wrong end of the order in Sakhir, too. The American had the 18th fastest time last week.

The extent of their problems in Bahrain even saw Alpine reshuffle their technical leadership. Out went technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, who had already offered their resignations. Alpine were still to confirm their departures beforehand.

Sargeant is ‘not quick enough’ in qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP

Joe Burnell has now taken over as Alpine’s technical director of engineering. David Wheater has also assumed the role of technical director of aerodynamics. While Ciaron Pilbeam has taken over as Alpine’s technical director of performance to try and turn their season around.

But qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP this Friday has shown Alpine will have a lot of work to do. And the BBC’s chief F1 writer, Benson, was quick to reflect on their issues after dropping out in Q1 – even casting a bleak verdict on Sargeant with Alex Albon securing Williams 12th.

“It isn’t all good for Alpine, let’s be honest,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (8/3, 17:19). “Again for the second race in row they’re the slowest car on the grid. Albon’s ahead of them. Sargeant’s irrelevant, isn’t he? He’s not quick enough. So, this is dark times for Alpine.”