Hill warns Sargeant: 'You can't become Verstappen'

1996 Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill has offered Williams’ Logan Sargeant advice amid mounting pressure over the American’s future.

Following a challenging rookie campaign, Sargeant was retained by the Grove-based squad for a second season.

However, the 23-year-old has endured a difficult start after Wiliams opted to sideline him in Australia and give his chassis to team-mate Alex Albon, who damaged his own tub during a practice crash.

Sargeant had a collision of his own at the Japanese Grand Prix last time out, hitting the wall after making an error in the first sector.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hill urged Sargeant to pace himself steer away from attempting to prove he has made significant improvements overnight.

“There’s only so much you can do,” Hill stated. “There’s things you can affect and things you can’t affect.

“And the things you can affect, obviously, are the things you need to put all your focus on. And that means driving.

“His crash at Suzuka was a sign that he felt he had to do something brilliant as soon as possible.

“I think that the panic should not set in, you need to keep a cool head to say, ‘Listen, there’s only so much you can do’. And you have to drive a little bit within yourself.

“You can’t suddenly become Max Verstappen in one mighty leap, you have to know yourself.”

Simplifying the problem

Sargeant’s difficult start has already raised questions about his chances of retaining his drive for the 2025 season.

Hill has urged Sargeant to simplify his concerns in order to make the improvements he is seeking.

“If he just does a good solid job in whatever race he comes up against, and just puts all the rest of it out of his head, because there’s nothing he can do about it anyway, then we’ll see what happens.

“It’s almost like you’ve just got to take everything corner by corner, literally, all that matters is doing each corner right.

“You join them all up together and the lap will be better and then you’ve got a better lap and then you go out again and you’ve got that as your foundation.

“You can break it down into making it very, very simple, rather than complicated.”