Logan Sargent saw Williams F1 star Alex Albon do 1 thing ‘very minimal’ in 2023

Follow us on Google Discover

Logan Sargeant feels the lack of mistakes Alex Albon made last season was the ‘most impressive’ thing about his Williams teammate after seeing him rarely make an error.

The American joined Albon at Williams in 2023 as Sargent embarked on his rookie campaign as a Formula 1 driver. Team principal James Vowles would even decide to maintain the same line-up for 2024 after giving the Fort Lauderdale, Florida native a new contract in December.

But Williams will expect more from Sargeant this season after he only scored one, fortuitous point last term. The 23-year-old only edged into 10th place at the United States GP in Austin after the stewards disqualified Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc over excessive floor wear.

Alex Albon’s lack of mistakes impressed Logan Sargeant in 2023

Albon, on the other hand, led Williams to their best finish in the constructors’ championship since 2017. The London-born Thai’s 27 points alone were enough to secure P7 in the team’s table. Williams had not finished as high in the standings since the P5 and were 10th in 2022.

Dazzling defensive displays at the Canadian GP and Italian GP were the standout races from Albon’s campaign. He drove brilliantly to hold off faster cars in Montreal and Monza to take P7 finishes. Sargeant best finish outside of Austin was a P11 at Silverstone and in Sao Paulo.

Albon further finished 18 of the 22 Grand Prix last year – retiring from the Saudi Arabian GP with a brake problem, the Australian GP after crashing, the Japanese GP due to damage and the Sao Paulo GP owing to a collision. But only the incident in Melbourne was Albon’s fault.

Logan Sargeant feels his Williams teammate is ‘nailing it’ in F1

A brilliant launch off the sloped grid in Brazil saw Albon instantly move alongside Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen. But the 27-year-old had nowhere to go on the right as Magnussen squeezed Hulkenberg. Albon also had nowhere to go at the start in Suzuka.

Seeing Albon make very few mistakes first-hand in the Williams garage throughout the 2023 Formula 1 season impressed Sargeant. His only true mistake all term came in Melbourne, as Albon lost control of the FW45 at the apex of Turn 6 and he spun into the wall at high speed.

“I think what’s most impressive with Alex last year, from what I saw, the amount of mistakes are very, very minimal,” Sargeant explained on Sky Sports F1 (23/2, 13:39). “And he’s always delivering [the] laps when it matters. So, I think that’s where he’s nailing it at the moment.”

Sargeant, meanwhile, retired at the Canadian GP with an oil leak, the Dutch GP because of a hydraulics failure, the Japanese GP over damage from a collision and the Qatar GP from heat exhaustion. He also stopped early at the Hungarian GP after destroying a tyre after spinning.

The American further crashed in qualifying after reaching Q3 for the first time in Formula 1 at the Dutch GP. Sargeant dipped a wheel onto the damper line through Turn 2 and he spun at speed. Sargeant also crashed out of Q1 at the Japanese GP after being ‘a bit too aggressive’.