James Vowles’ first-choice replacement for Logan Sargeant was reportedly denied the opportunity by rival F1 team

Recent reports claim that Williams team boss, James Vowles, was initially chasing Red Bull's Liam Lawson to replace Logan Sargeant for the rest of the 2024 F1 season. However, Red Bull turned down the loan request from the British team.

According to Formu1a.uno, Vowles' preferred choice to replace Logan Sargeant mid-season was Liam Lawson. The New Zealander impressed the grid in 2023 when he replaced Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri as the latter was injured during the Dutch GP. The report further claims that Red Bull did not approve the loan request because it wanted Lawson to be available if it wanted to replace Ricciardo or Sergio Perez from one of its teams.

Williams decided to replace Logan Sargeant with their junior driver Franco Colapinto for the rest of the 2024 F1 season. The replacement was made right after the Dutch GP, where Sargeant crashed in FP3 and could not race for the rest of the weekend.

The American driver has had trouble performing consistently since joining F1 in 2023. In his whole debut season, he managed to score just one point, at his home race in Austin. By contrast, his teammate Alex Albon managed to score 27 points last season. Rumors regarding Sargeant being replaced started emerging in 2023 itself.

In the 2024 season, Sargeant was one of the three drivers yet to score a point. In addition, he was involved in crashes in the Dutch, Canadian, Miami, and Japanese Grands Prix. Williams experienced severe financial difficulties as a result of these collisions and they were eventually compelled to enter races with just one car, driven by Albon.

Following these performances, Williams decided to replace the struggling American racer.

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James Vowles on Logan Sargeant after replacing him with F2 driver at Williams

James Vowles recently spoke highly about Logan Sargeant despite replacing him with Franco Colapinto mid-season in 2024.

In the official Williams press release regarding the change, Vowles said he understood how hard it must be for Sargeant to be replaced in the middle of the season. He then praised the American driver for being a talented driver. He added that Williams would continue to support Sargeant.

"This is undoubtedly incredibly tough on Logan, who has given his all throughout his time with Williams, and we want to thank him for all his hard work and positive attitude. Logan remains a talented driver and we will support him to continue his racing career for the future,” Vowles said.

As of now, there has been no statement from Logan Sargeant about his departure from Williams and F1. He has not posted anything on his official social media accounts or said anything through an official press release.