A bizarre reaction from Sargeant highlights yet another weakness

Logan Sargeant is fighting for his future in Formula 1, but you might not think that given his reaction to one of the biggest setbacks he could've received. The American has highlighted yet another weakness that poses doubts about whether he is just simply happy to be in Formula 1 rather than keen to work his way up through the grid and aspire to win races and more.

Williams granted the American driver another season after a relatively disappointing 2023. He scored just one point, and even that came through the luck of a double disqualification to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Yes, he had to 'be there' to achieve it, but it wasn't down to pure pace and performance. In comparison, his teammate Alex Albon scored 27 points last season. Just enough to lift Williams above AlphaTauri [now VCARB), Alfa Romeo [now Sauber] and Haas.

Team boss James Vowles promised a more confident Sargeant going into the 2024 season, given that he now has a year under his belt. The Williams car has regressed through the winter relative to the competition, which is evident from Albon's results. The Thai driver hasn't finished inside the top 10 yet this season. But Sargeant is again consistently behind Albon. Over the season, Albon is, on average, four-tenths quicker than Sargeant. It's the biggest difference across the teammate duels so far this year. So it's back against the wall stuff, and you'd expect to hear some fight then.

How Sargeant recovered from the biggest setback

Through no direct fault of his own, Sargeant was kicked out of the Australian Grand Prix weekend after just one free practice session. Albon crashed in FP1 and damaged his chassis. Williams had no spare chassis. They opted to give Sargeant's chassis to Albon, leaving the American without a drive for the rest of the weekend. That has to be the biggest kick in the teeth any driver can experience during a racing career. That has to hurt, but Sargeant claimed he recovered within 24 hours.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sargeant explained how he recovered from the setback. "I was there with the team the next day. After, I went to Bali and completely forgot about it for a week. It stuck with me as a disappointing moment for probably about 24 hours. Then from that point forward, I pretty much cleared it from my head. It doesn’t even cross my mind anymore," Sargeant said.

It surely has to be quite alarming to Vowles and Williams that something so negative can quickly be cleared from his head. Perhaps they will see it as a sign of mental strength, but wouldn't it be better to channel that negative emotion into the following Grand Prix weekend and really stand up for yourself?

What should the reaction have been like?

It should be appreciated that Max Verstappen and Sargeant are at the complete (extreme) opposite ends of the scale. But at the end of the day, one is winning World Championships, and the other is trudging along at the back, so you have to aspire to the Dutchman. Verstappen hasn't had many significant setbacks in recent years, but perhaps his biggest came at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

Red Bull Racing's car didn't work at the street circuit, and Verstappen failed to reach Q3, somewhat embarrassingly. The now three-time World Champion recovered in the Grand Prix to score points, but the setback hurt the Dutchman. The critics were out in force, with many suggesting the technical directive change caused Red Bull some problems.

Verstappen certainly didn't forget about that within 24 hours. He channelled that emotion and stood up for himself at the following Grand Prix in Japan. He topped FP1, FP2, and FP3, qualified on pole, and won the race in nearly 20 seconds. He was really 'on it' from FP1 onwards. Of course, Sargeant isn't expected to go out and top every session, but anger and fight could've been shown. Evidence that Verstappen was really focused following the setback? He spoke about it in the press conference following qualifying.

"From my side, I was just very fired up to have a good weekend here and make sure that we were strong," Verstappen said, setting an example for anyone who experiences a setback in Formula 1.

One thing is not getting the desired results and struggling compared to your teammate. Not showing the fight to dig yourself out of the hole and prove you're motivated to move on is another. It's another sign of weakness and arguably one of the biggest. Ultimately, a lot within Formula 1 want this to work, but it's getting harder and harder to see a positive outcome.