Sargeant in 'hardest moment of career' after Australian withdrawal

Logan Sargeant has described his withdrawal from the Australian Grand Prix weekend as "the hardest moment" of his career.

Williams boss James Vowles has elected to withdraw the American after Friday practice in Melbourne in favour of Alex Albon after the latter crashed in Free Practice 1, damaging his chassis beyond repair.

With no third chassis on-site at Albert Park, a situation Vowles labelled as "unacceptable" - he took the decision to hand the remaining FW46 to Albon - a driver who scored 27 of Williams 28 points in 2023.

Vowles described the decision as being "not made lightly" and praised Sargeant's "graceful acceptance" with Albon himself also praising Sargeant's response, despite the withdrawal.

Sargeant and Albon react

"This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it's absolutely not easy," Sargeant explained.

"I am however completely here for the team and will continue to contribute in any way that I can this weekend to maximise what we can do."

Albon himself praised the professionalism Sargeant had shown in the withdrawal but was "keen" to not dwell on the situation moving forward.

"I have to be totally honest and say that no driver would want to give up his seat. I would never want anything like this to happen," Albon explained.

"Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won't be an easy one for him to take.

"At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximise our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible."