Logan Sargeant has rubbished talk he is no longer on speaking terms with Williams Formula 1 Team Principal James Vowles following speculation from Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.
It’s no secret that the American has had a tough battle on his hands during the 2024 Formula 1 campaign, often fighting with a lower-spec car compared to his team-mate Alex Albon.
Sargeant’s form, however, has improved in recent weeks and his pace compared to Albon has closed up now he is receiving a Williams FW46 more aligned with the Anglo-Thai driver.
Still, this hasn’t stopped speculation regarding Sargeant’s standing in the team, be it whether he’ll be replaced by Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas, etc, or whether he’s fallen out with Williams.
Ericsson, a former Formula 1 driver and Indy 500 winner told the Viaplay podcast that a rift has formed between Sargeant and Vowles.
“I was told by some American friends who know Sargeant [that] he doesn’t have fun in that team,” the Swede said.
“He thinks it’s really hard and apparently he and Vowles don’t even talk with each other anymore, they barely greet each other. It’s completely cut off between them.”
Sargeant was quick to quash this suggestion when asked to speak on Ericsson’s revelation ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“Ericsson has a reputation of talking about other people without ever even having a conversation with me in his life,” Sargeant told media including Motorsport Week.
“So, yeah, it doesn’t carry any weight. It’s not true.
“I just had a conversation with James [Vowles] here 20 minutes ago. And, you know, most importantly, me and James, we both come here and we want to do the best for the team.
“We both work in the same direction for what is the best for the team. And ultimately, what’s best for the team is best for me. So, yeah, it’s completely untrue.”
Even with Ericsson’s claim labelled as baseless conjecture, Sargeant still has a fight on his hands to retain his Williams seat.
Vowles has put the impetus on Sargeant to perform to continue his F1 journey and in light of narrowly missing out on points at Silverstone and qualifying just a tenth back from Albon at the Hungaroring, perhaps the time is right for the American to sit down with the Williams boss to discuss if the required targets have been met.
“I’m sure those conversations will be had, you know, later,” said Sargeant.
“But for the moment it’s just, you know, carry on as we’re doing. I think one of the bits that’s tricky is because we still have these, you know, very small differences [between the two Williams cars].
“I come to these weekends and ultimately the truth is I have to drive a tenth, you know, over a tenth quicker to be a thousandth quicker.
“So there’s still these little differences which make my life, you know, a little bit more tricky. So yeah, that’s the way it goes.
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