Why Williams may not make a radical Sargeant move

Will Logan Sargeant be replaced before this weekend's Italian Grand Prix? It is a question occupying the Formula 1 paddock as the teams travel to Monza, with several names mentioned.

But does Williams realistically have anyone to choose from? Mick Schumacher and Liam Lawson are the ttwo who seem the most obvious candidates at the moment, but how serious are they?

RacingNews365 highlights the situation for you.

Mick Schumacher

Let's start with the driver mentioned more than most. The son of legendary seven-time F1 champion Michael has two seasons of F1 behind him with Haas, although he did not always make the best impression. Like Sargeant, he became renowned for some spectacular crashes of his own.

But following his exit from Haas, Schumacher has remained active in F1 as a test driver with Mercedes, leading to team boss Toto Wolff proposing him as Sargeant's replacement.

Mercedes' links with Williams are obvious, of course, not least the fact that Vowles worked for the former for many years before his move to the latter and knows Schumacher well

The problem with Schumacher, however, is that this year he is not solely attached to Mercedes as he is also part of Alpine's Hypercar programme.

Coincidentally, he is part of the Alpine team that will contest this weekend's event at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. The 6 Hours of Fuji also clashes with the Azerbaijan GP, whilst the concluding 8 Hours of Bahrain runs over the same weekend as the Brazilian GP.

Alpine will not want to give him up lightly.

Liam Lawson

Another name prominently mentioned is Lawson. The New Zealander impressed last season as a replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo but has been watching from the sidelines this year.

He does, however, seem to be gearing up for an F1 return as Helmut Marko hinted that Lawson will be in one of the four Red Bull cars next season.

This year, however, there appears no possibility of an early entry with Red Bull or RB, so a loan to Williams seems like an ideal opportunity. It would not be the first time Red Bull and Williams have co-operated in such a way as Alexander Albon was 'loaned' to Williams in 2022.

The big difference from then, however, is that Williams had a different team owner, whilst Albon was also sidelined at Red Bull. The Thai-British driver's days with the team were effectively over but he was helped to find a way back into F1.

Hiring a talent like Lawson, who will almost certainly be on the grid with a Williams rival in 2025, does not seem like an ideal choice at the moment given that scenario.

And Mercedes would not be happy either as Red Bull would likely obtain inside information about certain parts of the Silver Arrows that are incorporated into the FW46.