Logan Sargeant says preserving his seat in Formula 1 at Williams beyond the end of 2023 is purely “down to how I perform.”
The American has struggled to adapt to life in the top tier and is still yet to pick up his first points, with team-mate Alex Albon amassing the entirety of Williams’ 15-point total.
Although he has been able to drag the FW45 as high as 11th, Sargeant’s first 13 races have featured a series of mishaps, particularly on street circuits.
Now, the pressure is on for the F1 newcomer to make a statement before the season rounds out to ensure he is retained by the Grove-based squad for another season.
“I’ve made some costly mistakes this year at the wrong time,” he said ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend. “If I can clean those up, be a bit more consistent and deliver the way I know I can, then everything will be good.
“Sometimes you put the car on the ground and it’s in a better place than in others. Hungary and Spa didn’t quite work out for us, but hopefully an opportunity arises for me and the team. [Here] doesn’t look like an easy one for us.
When pressed on the pressure to earn a ride for 2024, he added: “It’s F1, the pressure is always there no matter what team you are in. It’s a performance-driven sport and it will ultimately come down to how I perform.”
Thankfully for Sargeant, he has been publicly backed by Williams Team Principal James Vowles, who has urged his driver to improve his consistency before worrying about matching the pace of Albon.
“Logan’s here because he’s quick, and he is quick, he can deliver,” Vowles told Motorsport.com during the summer break.
“But he has to start by just getting things controlled, delivering cleanly. In both qualifying sessions in Baku he made it to Q2. That’s the consistency. And that’s what we’re looking for.
“What I’ve already explained to him is ‘you’re quick enough’. And then, ‘use Q2 to build your experience by almost double from what you’re doing at the moment’.
“And that’s what you’ll start seeing him deliver on. You’ll see that he’ll slowly edge up. I’m not expecting him to be on Alex’s pace. Also he’s had a string of races he’s never even been to before.
“But even [in Miami], disappointed as he was, there was just three-tenths between him and Alex [in Q1]. It just so happened that was seven cars. But three-tenths, that’s how close it’s getting now.”
Sargeant managed to advance to Q3 in qualifying for the first time on Saturday at Zandvoort. However, he would crash in the opening stages of Q3 before a power steering failure pitched him into the barrier again during Sunday’s race.
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