That Excel sheet is going to need some serious work this week

It'd be hilarious if Albon also writes off this chassis

They did "Valtteri, It's James" to Sargent

It's a good thing F1 kept Andretti out because there's no way they could keep up with these "competitive" teams.

Yeah, I think the bigger issue is that Williams doesn’t have a spare chassis. Hell, if Sargent is as bad as everyone says, you’d think they would have one (just in case).

"Logan, it's James..."

F1: "Andretti Global isnt ready for an F1 Entry" Meanwhile a current F1 Team 3 years into the new regulations. . .

Here’s your next Drive to Survive episode… 😢

"Logan, Albon is-faster-than-you"

Well. Peter Collins was once asked to hand over his car to Fangio, allowing Fangio finish 2nd and win the championship at the expense of Collins!

The worst that could happen is Alex scoring with Logan’s car and make a statement. The media will run with story to downgrade Logan further. I hope he can handle just in case that happens too.

From the team standpoint. I totally understand why Williams would go as far as sacrificing Sargeant for Albon. Albon has significantly bigger chance of scoring points than Sargeant. Brutal or not, when you see it from the bigger picture, it is the better decision. And maybe this decision could decide the standings at the end of this season, and if Albon didn't score any point at this race, it is a safer bet taken by Williams in terms of risk management.

Sure it's unfair in a way but also logical from Williams' point of view given the gap in performance between both drivers.

If they want to know if Sarg is good enough, this would be the perfect opportunity to see if he can handle the pressure. To me, this indicates they won't be keeping him next year.

P1 made an excellent point. Logan in many respects is lucky to have a seat for this season. If last season at his lowest point you said to him ‘we believe in you enough to give you another season, but if needed we will prioritise Alex if it is in our best interest to score points’ I’m sure he’d accept it with open arms

It's definitely not a difficult decision for Williams to give Sargeants car to Albon 🤣🤣

They used to swap cars in races back in the day. No big deal. He is team leader so he will get the drive.

Red Bull to Seb: Here take Mark's front wing! Williams to Alex: Take Logan's entire car!

It's harsh, but given the giant overhaul Vowles is doing to the team it is understandable that they are missing parts and in these situations you gotta leave emotions out of it. Albon is most likely to score points for the team and should thus drive the car in the race.

Williams is struggling for points everywhere. Any point is a major up for the team. Of course Williams would prefer an experienced, better-performing driver, Alex, to maximize their chances of points in the race. Although I expected Williams to have confidence in Logan, as they did by extending his contrcat last year, there is no way you can completely claim they've made the wrong decision here. Logan already owes Williams who kept his seat in F1 till this year anyways. Though the morals can be debated, I don't think Williams have done anything wrong. They just did what people in F1 would do. After all, F1 is NOT a charity.

It's more of a team issue in not having an extra car available. Brings up interesting speculation of what some other teams would do in choosing what driver participates in a similar situation.

Not a sacrifice. You have to go with the guy that gives you the best chance to score points. The margins are too small to make any other decision and I'm American.

James lives in data. The historical data says Albon is faster and more likely than Sargeant to score points. Brutal for Sargeant, but the correct decision to make if trying to score championship points.

This tells Sargeant, categorically, that his team doesn't believe in his ability to deliver for them. That is now totally undeniable as things stand. The real point, other than the embarrassment of not having a third chassis on hand, is that this is round 3 of 23 and he now has up to 20 chances to prove them wrong. That's how he needs to internalise this.

Considering I started watching F1 as a kid with Williams dominating in the early 90s this is a very sad state of affairs.

When Albon finishes outside the points, will people just be like 'yeah well Albon finished 14th and Sargent would have been 17th hur hur hur'?

Man, I just love the content of this channel, its gives a good amount of information along with people's factual opinions. Love the color grading of the pictures 😍 its just beautiful

honestly I'm glad JV took over the role of team principal at Williams and having to rework everything from scratch. He wasn't able to do anything last year and still got the results in, this year he's actually changing the work culture which has plagued the team for so long. The only real reason Williams actually got away with it for so long was back then there wasn't 20+ races to deal with, but with the current race schedules and shorter winter testings the Excel spreadsheet thing just isn't gonna cut it. Albon just needs to drive and Sergeant just have to be a team player for this weekend. He will have his chance to prove himself in the next race and so on, so at least he won't get condemned if he had done anything bad this weekend.

It sucks for Logan, but the maths of the situation all line up against him, and Williams can't afford to do any less than maximise their chances of scoring points. I respect him as a person, and I hope he finds his groove this year. And I imagine that Albon regrets what has happened too.

When your team has a #1 driver and only has one car, this isn't a hard decision. Harsh but true.

As Scott said, Logan must use this to fuel his response going forward.

Why haven’t Williams got a spare chassis? That’s the mistake here.

Netflix has 10 Episodes Already

It's not fair for Logan, however it would be even less fair on the team members to give them the best chance of Scoring. Its a team sport at the end of the day, no one complains when a substitute is made in Football.

Hard to believe that crash was so catastrophic. It looked pretty mundane.

Difference between this pre season rush and 2019. This rush is down to ambition and the infrastructure not being in place to support it. 2019 was just a management shit show. The knock on effect of which is still being felt.

Alex: bruv imma need your car

Why would you keep a driver where this sort of situation would ever make sense?

They're talking about pressure being on Williams but I'd argue the pressure is on Albon now. He needs a clean weekend now because if he bins it again (hopefully not) it will cause all sorts of drama

I guess it can be explained by what they call a "skill issue".

If I'm Logan, i'm in the garage with the mechanics doing whatever work on Albons car. Getting it ready to ship back to the UK. Then probably watching Albon drive, checking telemetry, etc Doing whatever to keep busy, work with the team, learn and not sulk. Be a team player. It's now part of his job to make sure Albon finishes the best he can.

If teams really did what was “right for the team,” Stroll would be driving in another series already.

Alex has proven to have a better chance of scoring points for the team which is their primary focus, it's a no brainer.

Lack of respect from Albon to Logan to accept this. This wouldn't happen between other honorable drivers. Disappointed and angry at Williams.

Very big case why Andretti should join F1

As we talk about harshness, Sargent's 2024 contract is harsh on so many talented drivers who have no chance to drive an F1 car.

I don't see an issue with swapping out, I just assumed the tub would be allocated to a driver. I had read a book years ago about another driver giving his car up during a Grand Prix for Fangio. Fangio being so far ahead he was actually able to swap on track and still win the race.

A good question is whether Logan actually had a choice, in terms of considering his mental state in this. Another big thing is that the competetors now know that Williams is exposed, if they loose the car running now, they are unable to compete, so Alex has to protect the car, or risk a lot in terms of being able to compete in races. So pushing a Williams racer in the coming races, will net a pass, since they can't risk damaging the car. So if you are RB, Sauber, Haas or Alpine, you are going to want to push that car, so you are not the 10th in constructors.

Does this really need explaining?

If you can't manage to bring an extra chassis on a street course, then you don't belong in F1. This is silly.

I can't believe this even needs to be discussed.

What a sad state of affairs for such a team. This is more embarrassing than a composites department 20 years behind or a 20,000 line excel sheet for their car.

Sargeant was told to step aside. There. I fixed it for you.

IF Sargeant had a better track record then I would feel sorry for him, but he hasn't. The team has to optimise its best chances to score points.

Totally embarrassing for Williiams...not to have a spare chassis when you fly half way around the world.

not fair on the driver, but it's the best strategy for the TEAM. Sargent has never looked like scoring. facts

Andretti would have brought a spare chassis, literally making them more competitive than Williams now. Yet Williams gets to block Andretti from joining F1.

We used to have complete spare cars, now we don’t even have a spare chassis?? Perhaps F1 needs to update its contract terms to require a spare chassis? This is (yet another) bad look for the show.

"Logan, it's James".

I think the cars should not be swappable with your active drivers

Not harsh on Sargeant. Albon consistently finishes 30 seconds up the road from him. Its on Sargeants past performances.

Why? Because one driver occasionally scores points and the other is always last

Japan being placed at race 4 carries risk too. While it has some run-off, due to environmental restrictions during its 1960s build, there’s not much margin at some of its high-speed corners and a serious crash is v.possible. As Sargent found out in 2023 qualifying *when he wrote off his chassis* at the final corner. That third “spare” chassis for Suzuka will be a racing chassis now, so unless Williams has started making a 4th for the first week of April or is accelerating a planned 4th that’s already begun, they could have the same situation in a few weeks. Even Brawn (who really lacked the resource for a full season’s racing when they set out) had 3 chassis at the first race in Melbourne. Good job too because even being very careful to never break the car, Rubens had done in a few front wings & cracked chassis BGP-001-01 by Singapore.

Interesting how media approaches this topic in UK vs how it would be approached in US is fascinating.

Who knows? Maybe Sargeant takes this "punch to the face" and comes back "Rocky" style and starts to dominate? Let me give this script idea to ChatGPT and see what it comes up with.

Logan never deserved the seat anyways

Its on the spreadsheet. Look it up.

I love James and all but that Excel sheet should be canceled. It probably said there was a spare chassis in Australia and they never updated it.

Explanation: Sargeant shouldn't be in F1 anyway.

Thought there were no #1 drivers. Unfair to Sargeant when Albon made the mistake.

If he didn't know he is already skating on thin ice, then I would question his grip on reality. The best thing he can do, other than improve throughout the season, is to accept this situation gracefully.

As a minimum entry condition to any F1 race a team should always have a spare vehicle available to avoid the embarrassment of this exact issue.

I hear a lot of people saying this is not Sargeant's fault... It absolutely is Sargeant's fault. If he had been better, this would not have happened.

They shouldve had Sargeant run a second F2 season and have this be his rookie year in F1

The main thing I learned from this B-roll is Logan Sergeant is the most hydrated man in the world.

Coming off the heels of the shitshow with Andretti, it REALLY makes me angry as an American motorsports fan.

Life isnt fair, Williams made the sensible choice for the team. LS will understand even if he doesn’t like it.

FIA should clamp down...you have a team like Williams showing up without spare parts, lack of resources, outdated practices, cars not ready for pre season testing...then you have Andretti that has everything and more...it doesnt make sense. Teams should meet minimum requirements and one of those should be both cars start the race under normal circumstances. Are other teams capable of putting themselves in the position Williams is in now? I bet everyone else has spares.

As a midfield team, it is kinda understandable for the decision, but imagine that this would happen to a top team like Merc, RB, or Ferrari.

F1 is ruthless and this decision is a good long term one with MILLIONS on the line. For this midfield, every point matters. If Sargent was getting points every now and then, he would have a better case. Hopefully Williams can move on from their friggin excel sheet era and keep up with modern tech in the next few years

Why are all your titles clickbait

How is it harsh? Logan can't score points haha... unless 4 teams crash their cars huhu

The actual fear is that if Williams writes off the second car this weekend, then they won't be out there for Japan. 18, not 20 cars. This is the example that A) Andretti tried to warn them about, B) FOM was trying to ignore, and C) Teams that were either managerial or financially inept are allowed to continue, thus causing problems for "the powers that be" in being able to fulfill staging races with an incomplete grid. This could result in a situation far worse than just a team losing points...

It's so harsh on a personal level for Sargeant, i didn't think they'd actually do it, after all he's not stuck it in the wall, but reckon his fate was finally sealed in FP2, when after a few wobbles and small offs, he spun the car at fairly high speed and very nearly collected another car in the process. If i was Williams team principle i'd have been having kittens watching that and thinking if we're going to run the risk of writing off another car, we'd be as well doing it with the guy who'd at least have been more likely to get us up the grid and hopefully some points if we could get him in the race. Not really sure how well it'll play out long term, it's effectively become a vote of 'yeah we don't trust you to deliver'.

If Albon doesn’t get points F1 DTS is going to be crazy next season

why when there was not that big a change from 2023 car why do they not do what they used to do with starting the season with last years car or even just as a spare ?

Williams did not keep Sargeant because "they believe in him". Everyone know that that is not true. So, the question that came to my mind was "Isn't Sargeant paying for his drive?", directly or indirectly? If he is paying for his drive, as much as I do not agree with pay-drivers, it doesn't make sense for him to pay for his drive and not be able to drive. In addition, I would expect that to be in contract, i.e. having the contractual right to drive on every event in the calendar. If that's the case, I would assume that something was signed this weekend which prevents Sargeant from pursuing legal action for his car having been used by someone else. Another question that I asked myself was "What happens if this situation repeats itself in the next couple of events? Will Sargeant not be able to drive again because the other side of the garage happens to need his car?" It could very well happen again until Williams produces another monocoque, or at least two new monocoques if Albon's damaged one being unrepairable.

This is just disrespectful, and looks bad for Williams. If Albon doesn't score or if worse he crashes, then James is going to look like a complete fool. If this was towards the end of the season then I might understand a bit more, but doing this at the 3rd race? Management 101 on what NOT to do. Honestly, I hope Albon puts it into the wall again.

Just when I was starting to kind-of like Williams..

Considering Albon Qualified 2 tenths behind Hamilton, in P12, and there's a good opportunity for points if the AMs fall back as they have before, I think they made the harsh but right decision if it were Piastri or Sainz, I don't think it would've been justified even though there teammates are slightly faster. I also think if this was RBR we'd be up in arms, but then again RBR don't look like they're going ti be fighting for their championship position It's frustrating for sargeant, especially with Kimi waiting in the wings, but the rught call

I'm an American and the only reason I see Williams keeping Sargent on is money. The guy isn't F1 good from what I have seen.

Williams doesn’t have enough money to maintain two cars on the track after an accident like Alex had. Let that sink in.

Disgraceful move from Williams. No two ways about it. Most importantly, have a spare chassis. Second, dont penalize one driver for the mistakes of the other.

F1: No way Andretti could ever be as competitive as Williams!

Pretty harsh to be told "the car is going to the best driver" and then give it to the guy who crashed.

In all probability Williams told The Sarge they would do this in such a scenario, he agreed to it and signed a contract giving them permission.

imagine the bottom 5 teams all start running just 1 car instead of 2

I don't need an explanation. I was around race teams most of my life. I worked for a couple. I fully understand taking one for the team. The drivers get the glory when many others make it possible for that to happen. How Logan reacted to this will be remembered. He was a team player. That will earn the respect of the team faster than anything else. Alex is the best chance to score desperately needed points. Its was the only call .

They may as well have announced Sargent’s F1 career is over

It would of been MUCH more surprising if they didn’t do this. But the bigger issue obviously is why any team would be unable to repair crash damage at an event. We should all be questioning Williams on that, not WHO they put in.