Ha la morale di Logan Sargeant “danneggiato”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Jolyon Palmer ha criticato Williams e il team principal James Vowles nella sua rubrica su F1.com. Il motivo è la decisione di sostituire Logan Sargeant con Alexander Albon a Melbourne dopo il venerdì.

“Had Albon scored some points on Sunday, the decision might have been justified. But for me, it was a short-term view that did not take into account the human factors, and it did not pay off,” said Palmer.

On the contrary, Williams only succeeded in “damaging the morale of the second driver,” believes Palmer, “after all, he was not the one who crashed on Friday.” It was actually teammate Albon himself who wrecked the Williams in FP1.

Because the team did not have a spare chassis, they could only compete with one car for the rest of the weekend. Williams justified the decision to give Albon the car by saying that historically, he had a better chance than his teammate of scoring points.

Palmer acknowledges that this is probably true, “when you consider his form in the past and this season compared to Sargeant.” In 2023, Albon scored 27 of Williams’ 28 points, and before Melbourne in 2024, he was ahead of Sargeant 2-0 in qualifying and race duels.

“Why did they even keep Sargeant?” Palmer questions. “However, compared to his teammate, he missed 34 laps on Friday, which is equivalent to one and a half practice sessions. Additionally, he did not complete any qualifying simulations or race runs on Friday, unlike Logan,” Palmer reminds.

The former Formula 1 driver notes: “If Vowles still believes that Albon would have been stronger, then the question arises: Why did they give Sargeant a new contract for 2024 if they have so little confidence in him?”

Furthermore, Palmer points out that the decision also put unnecessary pressure on Albon, as it was no longer a “normal weekend” for him. “It also meant that he could not risk another crash,” recalls the former GP2 champion.

“The season is long and the team and Logan Sargeant have plenty of time to recover. But to see your own car demolished and prepared for your teammate, you have to cope with that, no matter how magnanimous he appeared in public,” Palmer says.

The Briton knows from personal experience what it feels like to have to give up your own Formula 1 car. In 2017, he was let go by Renault four races before the end of the year. He never returned to the top tier of racing after that.