Vowles: 'Williams saw something in Sargeant that I didn't'

The paths of Vowles and Sargeant first crossed when Sargeant was still racing in Formula 3 and Vowles was chief strategist at Mercedes. Sargeant impressed several teams during that period, including Mercedes, and Vowles was the right person to assess Sargeant.

"At the time in Mercedes we had a good suite of drivers," Vowles explained. "So that was where my relationship with him ended. Prior to me arriving at Williams, Williams funded — it’s very important to state this — his Formula 2 career, so he is now salaried as a professional driver and Williams funded him because they had deep belief that he was the real deal."

'He deserves to be here'

"My reticence came from the fact that prior to that it’s difficult to really judge him," Vowles continued. "But I have to say, he’s now been in the car, I now have the ability to look at his data, and he is here on merit. And as a result of Williams investing correctly in him, he’s now a professional driver, a deserving driver on the grid at the same time. So it just shows you that in my previous life I was wrong and Williams were right!"