Logan Sargeant’s ominous final interview answer before losing his Williams seat to Franco Colapinto

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Franco Colapinto will replace Logan Sargeant at Williams for the final nine races of the 2024 season, the team announced on Tuesday. Sargeant has lost his drive after crashing at the Dutch Grand Prix.

James Vowles had warned Sargeant that he was ready to make a change before the year was out. The American already knew that Carlos Sainz would be arriving in the winter to partner Alex Albon.

But when he crossed the line at Zandvoort on Sunday, he wasn’t aware that his Williams career, and potentially his time in F1, had come to an end. Sargeant finished 16th, two places behind Albon.

He hadn’t been able to take part in Saturday’s qualifying session after a fiery accident in final practice. Martin Brundle says Sargeant’s crash was ‘strange’ because he kept his foot in even when running over wet grass, which caused him to spin into the barriers.

That meant another expensive repair job for his Williams team after previous accidents in Japan and Canada. Sargeant’s results weren’t good enough to justify the pain.

He lost out to Albon in every single Grand Prix qualifying session over the past 18 months, and he never finished ahead when both made it to the chequered flag. The Thai driver has only suffered four Q1 exits this year, while Sargeant has racked up 12.

Logan Sargeant said he ‘could care less’ about Williams rumours

After Williams confirmed the Colapinto/Sargeant swap on Tuesday, journalist Adam Cooper relayed the latter’s final interview answer. Speaking in his post-race media session on Sunday, he was asked about the rumours around his future.

It emerged on Saturday that Vowles was talking to rival F1 team bosses about loaning their reserve drivers. But Sargeant didn’t seem particularly concerned about the kind of stories that followed him throughout the season.

“I hear them every weekend, so it’s nothing new,” he said. “I could care less.”

It turned out that Sargeant had little reason to be nonchalant, and his comments aged poorly. He becomes the latest driver to lose an F1 seat midway through a season, following on from AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries in 2023.

Speaking over the team radio just after the race, Vowles had praised Sargeant for helping Albon out. He kept Yuki Tsunoda and Kevin Magnussen behind so they couldn’t threaten his teammate.

“Good defending Logan against those two cars behind,” he said. “Thank you for playing the team game there.”

James Vowles shares why Williams have hired Franco Colapinto

Colapinto may seem like a risky signing. Two years older than Sargeant, he’s only won one F2 race to date and ranks fifth in the championship – roughly where his predecessor finished in his final season.

However, Vowles wants to make the Williams academy work, and part of that is promoting youngsters when the seniors are underperforming. Mick Schumacher was unavailable for Monza due to World Endurance Championship commitments, while Red Bull may have recalled Liam Lawson.

Signing Colapinto will please Williams’ sponsors, who wanted to see him get a chance. He will become the first Argentine F1 driver since Gaston Mazzacane in 2001.