The future of Logan Sargeant at Williams F1 remains in the balance, but should the American lose his treasured seat it won’t be Mick Schumacher who replaces him.
Driver Academy graduate Sargeant secured his drive with the Oxfordshire-based team after finishing fourth in the 2022 Formula 2 championship but has so far found the going tough in motorsport’s elite classification scoring just a solitary point from 21 races.
His teammate Alexander Albon as already been assured of retaining his seat next season but no such guarantees have been offered to 22-year-old Sargeant despite an upturn in performances at recent races.
The American qualified seventh on the grid at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last weekend but could only finish 16th, well outside the points.
He now faces a threat from Mercedes junior Fred Vesti, who F1 Insider claims is being watched by Williams team principal James Vowles. The Danish 21-year-old will replace Lewis Hamilton for the first practice session in Abu Dhabi this weekend but will also be partaking in the final Formula 2 race of the season with a chance of clinching the championship still alive.
Williams is a partner team of Mercedes and one of the benefits that will bring is access to Vesti’s performance data in Abu Dhabi.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff will be keen to find a route into the sport for his young driver after his attempts to get Schumacher a drive at Williams failed last year after he failed to convince Vowles to do a deal.
Schumacher joined Mercedes as a development driver after leaving Haas at the end of the 2022 season, but with no regular F1 drive on offer at his own team Wolff tried to shoehorn the German in at Williams only to be rebuffed by Vowles who was not convinced by his driving data.
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Schumacher’s hopes of getting back into an F1 car could now lie with Apline, who also handles the sports car program for Renault including the famous Le Mans 24-hour event.
There is also the hope of blood being thicker than water as Schumacher’s legendary father Michael Schumacher won the second of his seven world titles in 1995 with a Benetton which was powered by a Renault engine.
If the 24-year-old cannot secure himself an F1 drive for 2024 then competing in sports cars could be his second best option. As per F1 Insider, a pragmatic Mick Schumacher said: “There is a Plan B.”
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