F1 | Williams drops Sargeant: is there a chance for Schumacher?

The Dutch Grand Prix could be Logan Sargeant’s last Formula 1 race. The accident that occurred yesterday during the fifteenth minute of the third free practice session was the last straw. The consequences of the impact against the barriers on the outside of turn 4 were devastating, the car was destroyed except for the bodywork, which survived the impact at over 190 km/h.

Sargeant’s third seasonal accident has thrown the team into despair, coming off a real tour de force to complete the upgrades seen in Zandvoort. Even James Vowles, usually very careful in his statements, made it clear without too many filters that the cup is full: “A lot of the work done ended up against a barrier”.

The team had to work overtime to restore the car late yesterday evening and the repercussions will also weigh on the production department at Grove, given the need to restore the spare parts needed to face the trip to Monza. And there could be important news in view of the Italian Grand Prix.

Williams seems intent on concluding the contract with Sargeant as soon as possible, and with this in mind Vowles has contacted both Mercedes and Red Bull to evaluate the few alternative solutions in a very short time. The Andrea Kimi Antonelli option clashes with the plans drawn up by Mercedes for some time, which has already defined in detail a very intense autumn, between FP1 sessions, testing program with the 2022 single-seater and the final stages of the F.2 championship.

Mick Schumacher is available instead. Coming off two big disappointments (in Alpine, where Jack Doohan was preferred and in Mercedes itself, where Antonelli was preferred) the German would have no problem getting into the car starting from the Monza weekend. Vowles’ first choice is Liam Lawson, however, fresh from the confirmation of Helmut Marko at the start of the 2025 world championship.

Liam Lawson, Reserve Driver Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Vowles’ offer would allow the New Zealander to race in the last nine races of the season, a perfect opportunity to best prepare for next season, but according to rumors that emerged yesterday in the Zandvoort paddock, Marko does not seem to be in favor of the operation. The hypotheses all point in one direction, that is, Marko’s intention to put Lawson in the car soon, alongside Yuki Tsunoda. A scenario that would explain the time that the Red Bull consultant asked Vowles before sending a response.

There is not much else on the table. In June there was a meeting between Williams and Esteban Ocon aimed at offering the current Alpine driver (at loggerheads with the team after the incident with Gasly in Monte Carlo) the opportunity to compete with Williams for the second part of the season before moving (in 2025) to Haas. A negotiation that suddenly ended before the summer break. There are those who say that Alpine could now be interested in anticipating the debut of Doohan, fresh from his promotion to the role of full-time driver starting in 2025, but at the moment these are just suppositions.

For the rest, the market offers only rookies, with all the risks that this entails. Williams has Franco Colapinto under contract, a twenty-one year old Argentine currently sixth in the F2 championship, but it would be a choice that on paper does not provide many guarantees considering the team’s objectives, namely a driver capable of saving the team from costly accidents and, if the opportunity arises, of bringing the car into the top-10. On the rookie front, Felipe Drugovich, the third Aston Martin driver capable of freeing himself from the contract with should a call as a regular driver arrive, has been waiting for a long time for a chance.