Williams gives Sargeant marching orders, replaces him with Franco Colapinto

Uh oh. It looks like Logan Sargeant’s F1 career is effectively over, because after a series of crashes and underwhelming drives, Williams has dropped him for the rest of 2024.

The 23-year-old - who last year became the first American driver to score a point in F1 since Michael Andretti 30 years beforehand - had a big shunt in the build-up to the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort over the weekend, and it looks like it was one accident too many for the team.

“To replace a driver mid-season is not a decision we have taken lightly, but we believe this gives Williams the best chance to compete for points over the remainder of the season,” said team principal James Vowles. “We have just brought a large upgrade to the car and need to maximise every points-scoring opportunity in a remarkably tight midfield battle.

“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.”

Sargeant has been immediately replaced by F2 and Williams Academy driver Franco Colapinto (the, er, chap on the left up top), who will fill the second seat alongside Alex Albon for the final nine races of 2024.

The 21-year-old is currently sixth in the F2 standings, having scored one feature race win and a handful of podiums this season.

“It is an honour to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams – this is what dreams are made of,” he said. “The team has such amazing history and a mission to get back to the front which I can’t wait to be part of.

Coming into F1 mid-season will be an enormous learning curve but I am up for the challenge, and I’m fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success.”

Colapinto will run #43 and is set to make his full F1 debut at Monza this weekend, having got his first taste of a proper F1 weekend in FP1 at the British Grand Prix back in July.

He will become the first Argentinian F1 driver since Gaston Mazzacane, who raced for Minardi in 2000 and briefly for the Prost team in 2001.

It’s unlikely that Colapinto would’ve been Williams’ first choice: the team reportedly approached Mercedes over prodigy Kimi Antonelli, and also asked Red Bull about the services of Liam Lawson, who subbed in so brilliantly for Daniel Ricciardo last year.

The full-time seat will of course be taken up by Carlos Sainz in 2025.

Sorry to see you go Logan; welcome to the big time Franco. And good luck.