Logan Sargeant's reaction to Williams' point-less Australian GP swap sums up F1 star

Logan Sargeant has been a "trooper" after being pushed aside at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to allow Williams teammate Alex Albon to chase a points finish - only to fall one finishing position short. The American, 23, gave up his car on team orders after Albon trashed his during practice Down Under.

Williams didn't have a spare chassis with them, forcing team boss James Vowles to take the difficult decision to sit Sargeant out for the weekend for Albon, whose consequence for the practice crash was a shot at qualifying and Sunday's race. However, throughout what has been described as "the hardest moment" in his career, Sargeant has also been praised for being a team player.

Although disappointed, Sargeant has remained laser-focused on the team's objectives and he has been commended by his teammate Albon, as well as other fellow drivers. "He’s okay, all along he’s been a trooper in it all," Albon said when asked how Sargeant handled the weekend. "I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes, that’s for sure. It’s a team effort and we took the decision to try to score some points today, obviously, we were close to getting it.”

Albon added that he and Sargeant will have to drive carefully in the weeks ahead as Williams plays catch-up with car parts. He added: "I think we’re still going have to be quite sensible with how we’re driving for the next few races. We need to see when the third car is going to be ready. For now, obviously, I’ll go back to my repaired one and give Logan back his car.”

Three-peat F1 world champion Max Verstappen jokingly claimed he would wreck his own car if he had been put in Sargeant's position. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, he would go on to last just a few laps despite starting on pole position as his car gave up on him forcing a retirement.

"I understand it from the performance aspect, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that this obviously sucks for Logan," Verstappen told Dutch media. "Of course, I'm not in that position, but then I would already be on the plane home. If that were to happen to me, I would completely flatten mine too, no one can drive."

Team boss Vowles was grilled on Sky Sports for potentially shattering Sargeant's confidence. The American has managed just one championship point since his F1 debut last year but showed signs of promise towards the back end of 2023 and the start of 2024.

“For the benefit of maybe, maybe one point, if nothing happens to the RBs or anything like that, to hurt Logan’s confidence and his credibility, to undermine your decision to keep him for this year anyway, to maybe damage your relationship with your US owners and your US sponsors, and maybe damage your relationship with the fans as well, who many don’t think this a fair decision, is it really worth it?” Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz probed.