The disappointment in Logan Sargent’s voice was clear after he narrowly missed out on qualifying for Q2 at the Miami Grand Prix, a race weekend marked by speculation over his future.
Sargent outperformed Williams teammate Alex Albon for the first time in qualifying for his home race, the Miami Sprint, but the buzz surrounding Sargent has been more about Mercedes junior Kim – Focused on the potential threat that Antonelli could replace Sargent.
Logan Sargent moves closer to qualifying for Miami GP Q2
PlanetF1.com understands that an exemption application has been submitted to governing body FIA for Antonelli to obtain a superlicense before he reaches the age of 18, but Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed that Antonelli has received a superlicense from the FIA before reaching the age of 18. He flatly denied that it was an application. Williams coach James Bolles did not do the same, despite supporting Sargent.
Making it to Q2 would have been a great way to dampen speculation for Sargent, but it was sad to hear when the race engineer admitted that Sargent didn’t do that by just 0.034 seconds.
“Are we okay? Come on, tell us we’re in,” Sargent said over the team radio at the end of the final Q1 challenge.
After hearing the heartbreaking news, the sergeant’s dejection was evident in his response: “Oh, what a shame.”
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Nevertheless, Sargent is shifting his focus to Sunday’s Grand Prix and trying to put aside the nagging voice in his head that he could have gained more in qualifying.
“I think it was a decent drive,” he told the media after Q1. “Of course, I can say that I gave a little more effort and was able to advance to Q2.
“But most importantly, I feel like the changes I made between the sprint race and qualifying are going in the right direction and that will ultimately help me tomorrow.” But what I did today I was satisfied with the result, so I wish I could have achieved a little more.
“So jumping into FP1 this weekend was the most comfortable I felt all year and I feel like I was able to get into FP1 right away.
“And if you look at Australia and beyond, I feel like Japan was able to get almost everything and did relatively well. Of course, China was disappointing, but we were here again today, just aiming for lap times, and it felt like we were doing well.” I feel like I did my job.”
Bolles has emphasized that Sargent’s place in Williams’ lineup is not under immediate threat, and when asked if this meeting with Antonelli was all serving as a “distraction,” Sargent said: He answered as follows:
“I spoke to James internally and I spoke to my manager.”
Williams is still waiting for the first points of the 2024 F1 campaign.
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