Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles has outlined he wants to see more from Logan Sargeant to “save his seat” for 2025, despite acknowledging his improvement.
Sargeant endured a challenging rookie season last term as Alex Albon out-qualified him during all 22 rounds and attained 28 points compared to his team-mate’s one.
But while Vowles opted to retain Sargeant, the American has struggled in his sophomore campaign as Williams has been unable to build on last season’s momentum.
Sargeant’s cause has been hampered as he has been made to run older-spec components owing to the parts shortage that caused him to miss the round in Australia.
Although he has been unable to trouble the points spots in the eight appearances he has made, Sargeant is adamant there has been tangible progress from last term.
“I think there’s been good moments,” Sargeant recalled. “I think I’ve seen a huge step forward.
“It’s just unfortunate we’re in a tough position with the car at the moment, but I think it’s starting to move back in the right direction.”
But with Williams known to be holding discussions with Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas, Vowles has stated that Sargeant must deliver more to preserve his position.
“I think there’s no doubt, second year of running, and you are now seeing the confidence start to build as a result of it, and there is performance there,” Vowles said.
“We also haven’t had the cars in the same spec for a period of time.
“Some of that’s still due to the earlier damage that we’re building up to, some of that is because we pulled forward upgrades, and there was simply not enough to put across two cars.
“He is continuously evolving as an individual, as I hope he would be in that circumstance.
“Is he where I need him to be target-wise? And that’s the big question of things. We need more from him, really, to be able to save his seat in that sort of circumstance.”
Sargeant has insisted that he has allowed the speculation surrounding possible replacements to distract him as his focus remains on extracting his outright potential.
“At the end of the day, I’m focused on my job,” he explained. “I spend what time I need to do with the engineers. I look at my driving, I look at the data across cars.
“At the end of the day, I’m here to drive, here to do my job as best as I can, and that’s what I do.”
With Williams thought to have been behind the original request to the FIA, rumours that Antonelli could replace Sargeant mid-season have increased in the past week.
Asked whether he was certain he would complete the season with the Grove-based squad, Sargeant replied: “Yeah, as of now. I have a contract and I’m here to drive.”
