Jolyon Palmer believes Williams did themselves no favors in Melbourne – The team dismantled Logan Sargeant but still didn’t score any points
Jolyon Palmer has criticized Williams and team principal James Vowles in his column on F1.com. The background to this is the decision to take Logan Sargeant out of the car in Melbourne after Friday and leave it to Alexander Albon.
“If Albon had scored some points on Sunday, the decision might have been justified. But for me it was a short-term view that didn’t take into account the human factors, and it didn’t pay off,” said Palmer.
On the contrary: Williams had only succeeded in “damaging the morale of the second driver”, Palmer believes, “after all, he wasn’t the one who crashed on Friday.” Rather, it was team-mate Albon himself who wrecked the Williams in FP1.
Because the team did not have a replacement chassis, they could only compete with one car for the rest of the weekend. Williams justified the decision to give Albon this car by saying that, historically, he had a better chance of scoring points than his team-mate.
Palmer admits that this is probably true, “if you look at his form last season and this season compared to Sargeant.” In 2023, Albon scored 27 of Williams’ 28 world championship points, and in 2024 he was 2-0 ahead of Sargeant in the qualifying and race duels before Melbourne
Palmer: Why did they keep Sargeant in the first place?
“However, he missed 34 laps compared to his teammate on Friday, which equates to one and a half training sessions. In addition, unlike Logan, he did not complete any qualifying simulations or race runs on Friday,” recalls Palmer.
The former Formula 1 driver therefore 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?”
In addition, Albon also had an unnecessary amount of pressure as a result of the decision, because it was “no longer a normal weekend” for him either. “It also meant that he couldn’t risk another crash,” recalls the former GP2 champion.
“The season is long and the team and Logan Sergeant have plenty of time to recover. But seeing your own car being dismantled and fixed up for your teammate is something you have to take in your stride, no matter how magnanimous he was in public,” said Palmer.
The Brit knows from his own experience what it feels like to have to hand over your own Formula 1 car. In 2017, Renault kicked him out four races before the end of the year. He never returned to the premier class afterwards
