Martin Brundle noticed something ‘strange’ about the crash that cost Logan Sargeant his seat

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Logan Sargeant may have driven in his last Formula 1 race after crashing his Williams in the final practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix. James Vowles has brought in Franco Colapinto as his replacement.

Sargeant ran wide on the exit of turn three in FP3 on Saturday morning, spinning into the barriers. His FW46 subsequently caught fire, and the damage ruled him out of qualifying.

The American was able to take part in the race, where he finished 16th – two spots behind teammate Alex Albon, who’d been excluded from qualifying. It looks as if his Saturday error was the last straw for his team boss.

Vowles publicly stated that Sargeant was at risk even before the arrival of Carlos Sainz in the winter. He’s only scored one point since he joined the F1 grid at the start of last year.

In his defence, Albon has only managed four in this season’s Williams and has had priority with the team’s upgrade packages. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that he’s outpaced Sargeant in every single Grand Prix qualifying session where both have featured since March 2023.

There are still nine races remaining this year, and Vowles may believe Williams can challenge Alpine for eighth in the standings with Colapinto. Albon showed the car’s potential by reaching Q3 on Saturday, only to suffer a disqualification for a technical infringement.

Martin Brundle doesn’t understand why Logan Sargeant ‘keep his foot in’ in Dutch Grand Prix crash

Reflecting on the FP3 incident in his post-race column for Sky Sports F1, pundit Martin Brundle questioned Sargeant’s driving. He says he should have backed out rather than ‘keeping his foot in’.

The 23-year-old dipped his front-right wheel onto the grass on the outside but the onboard footage suggested that he continued to accelerate. This was perhaps too great a risk in a meaningless session.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Williams driver Franco Colapinto with praise to stats

In addition to hurting his own weekend, Sargeant incurred another hefty repair bill for Williams. He also crashed in tricky conditions during the Canadian GP in June, and in practice for the Japanese GP in April.

“Logan Sargeant destroyed his car in a most expensive fashion early in Saturday morning’s practice with a strange accident when he kept his foot in despite wandering on to wet grass,” Brundle wrote. “This also cost everyone else valuable track time due to the ensuing and long red flag period in order to fix the barriers.”

Mick Schumacher was the favourite to replace Logan Sargeant at Williams

A number of drivers were in contention for the potential vacancy at Williams. As the reserve for engine suppliers Mercedes, Mick Schumacher was the favourite to replace Sargeant.

It was unclear whether Schumacher would have been able to feature in this weekend’s Italian GP, however. He’s currently due to compete in the World Endurance Championship in Austin instead.

Liam Lawson was also an early frontrunner. But Red Bull want to keep the New Zealander around in case they decide to replace Sergio Perez or Daniel Ricciardo before the year is out.

Frederik Vesti had an outside chance as another driver on Mercedes’ books. But Academy talent Franco Colapinto was the plan-b to Carlos Sainz, or so he says, and he successfully put himself forward.