Andrew: Williams are in a world of pain at the moment, and ironically Logan Sergeant’s performance deficit to team-mate Alex Albon is very much not the most pressing part of it.
Sargeant is responsible for only one of the crashes that have put the team in such a difficult situation. Albon caused the first, when he lost control at Turn Six in first practice in Melbourne, and the other appears to have been the consequence of Daniel Ricciardo not looking in his right-hand mirror before edging right between Turns Two and Three on the first lap at Suzuka.
Williams were already in a difficult place by then. They came into the season without a spare chassis, as a result of a combination of circumstances rooted in the team’s attempts to upgrade their operations to a state-of-the-art level.
Team principal James Vowles has been open about the pressure that put on the team, saying they were pushed right to the edge over the winter. Something had to give, the spare chassis was it, and Vowles could not have predicted that the team would have three such heavy crashes, inflicting so much damage, so early in the season.
It has exposed them, it has been very costly – in terms of finance, among other things – and it will inevitably have knock-on effects through the season, in terms of development, for example.
As for Sargeant, yes, his performance raises questions about his longevity in F1, and there are all sorts of considerations there, but it’s not Williams’ priority at the moment.
2024-04-10 09:26:35
#Lewis #Hamiltons #form #Max #Verstappens #dominance #Andrew #Benson #answers #questions
