Williams would get vital financial backing from ‘special’ driver if he replaced Logan Sargeant

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In the past seven Formula 1 races, Logan Sargeant has only bettered his 16^th-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix once.

The American narrowly missed out on a point at Silverstone after finishing 11^th but this hides the fact that the Dutch Grand Prix was a disaster for the 23-year-old.

His recent run starting at the Canadian Grand Prix reads as follows: Retirement (crashed in Montreal), 20^th, 19^th, 11^th (that crucial result at Silverstone), 17^th, 17^th and 16^th.

In stark contrast, his teammate Alex Albon has scored points in that period – securing a 9^th-place finish at the British Grand Prix – and has only finished outside of the top 15 on one occasion.

Williams are well aware that a decision needs to be made on Logan Sargeant’s immediate future even if they’ve already replaced him for 2025 with Carlos Sainz.

It would only take one freak result for Sauber to overturn their four-point lead and Alpine extended the gap to 8^th in the Constructors’ Championship at Zandvoort thanks to Pierre Gasly’s brilliant performance across the weekend.

Team principal James Vowles has failed to guarantee Sargeant’s immediate future and a report from The Race suggests that plenty of drivers are lining up to try and replace him.

Toto Wolff ruled out Kimi Antonelli as a potential candidate ahead of his first run in FP1 at Monza on Friday.

However, Red Bull chief Helmut Marko was happy for Liam Lawson to be considered as a candidate for the Williams seat should the right opportunity arise.

It leaves Sargeant in a very difficult position and Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich may have the talent – and the resources – to be the ideal candidate to step into his seat.

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Felipe Drugovich has important financial backing to replace Logan Sargeant at Williams

A whole host of drivers have been linked with Sargeant’s seat even though there’s not been any official movement on Williams’s side suggesting that he could leave before the Italian Grand Prix.

However, F1 seats very rarely become available and it’s important for drivers on the cusp of the sport to make every move possible to try and earn that opportunity.

The report from The Race suggests that Drugovich could bring ‘financial backing’ that Williams could appreciate given all the crash damage they’ve had to repair this season.

However, Drugovich has spent two seasons on the sidelines since winning the Formula 2 title – ahead of Sargeant – only taking part in sporadic races in other series.

That may ultimately count against Drugovich with more experienced drivers potentially available.

But if Williams are worried about how much the damage Sargeant and Albon have cost this year then Drugovich is a fantastic candidate.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship

Felipe Drugovich earned rave reviews after winning the Formula 2 championship

Paolo Angilella, Drugovich’s race engineer in F2 described him as ‘special’ during his title-winning season and said, via Formula Scout: “What is special of [about] Felipe is that he is really involved, normally I don’t like, but with Felipe we worked a lot even on the technical side together, so we normally make the decisions together.

“Then of course the last call is mine. Felipe brings a lot on the strategy point of view, let’s say. Often he had a really good advice regarding strategy and these kind of things.

“Of course maybe my way of explaining in let’s say an easy way the technical aspects of the car can convince him, so when he jumped in the car, he is convinced about what we have done. It was really teamwork.”

Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard both said at the start of the season that Drugovich deserved a Formula 1 seat but he would have to get up to speed in a new car very quickly to be an upgrade on Sargeant.

Having a Brazilian on the grid – especially before returning to Interlagos – would be warmly welcomed in Drugovich’s home country.

However, in a similar vein, losing an American before heading to Austin and Las Vegas may not be the most popular decision.