F1 Dutch Grand Prix Notebook: New Pressure Mounting on American Logan Sargeant

Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant’s hefty accident during final practice on Saturday for the F1 Dutch Grand Prix raised further doubts over whether he will finish the remainder of the 2024 season with Williams.

Sargeant crashed heavily in the early stages of the wet final session on Saturday, ruling him out of qualifying, consequently confining him to starting at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race. The crash was also doubly frustrating for Williams as the team had worked hard to ready a sizeable upgrade package at Zandvoort, with Sargeant’s impact wiping one the bulk of one set of the new components.

Williams boss James Vowles explored alternatives to Sargeant earlier in the season—with Alpine’s new signing Jack Doohan having been scouted—but ultimately the team has continued to put its faith in the American. But with Sargeant already known to be leaving after 2024, with Carlos Sainz signed from 2025, the latest accident has raised speculation that he will not see out the season.

“I hear them every weekend, so it’s nothing new,” Sargeant said of the rumors.

The front-runner if such a situation was to arise is current Red Bull and RB reserve driver Liam Lawson, who is still under consideration for 2025 by the energy drinks giant.

“It depends on which terms and if we needed him back that we could have him back quite quickly,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said on the prospect of a loan arrangement. “If they needed a driver next weekend, we’d be open to that. But that’s a Williams question rather than one for us.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff ruled out the notion that its expected 2025 signing Andrea Kimi Antonelli could be parachuted into Sargeant’s seat for the remainder of 2024, emphasizing that Antonelli will continue to race in Formula 2 alongside his private Formula 1 test runs.

Changes in Thailand May Be Bad for F1

Formula 1 has been exploring the possibility of holding a Grand Prix in Thailand, potentially as early as 2027, and government officials visited the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix back in May to hold talks with Formula 1 and meet senior figures inside the paddock.

But over the summer break, Thailand’s Prime Minster, Srettha Thavisin, was replaced. Thavisin had been a key backer of prospective plans but he has now been replaced by Paetongtarn Shinawatra. With major sporting projects often being connected to figureheads it remains to be seen whether Shinawatra picks up the baton or whether the project goes quiet.

Sauber Reaches New Low

Sauber’s dreadful 2024 campaign reached a new low at Zandvoort.

Aside from races in which it has retired Sauber has never before finished a Grand Prix with its two cars as low as 19th and 20th, with both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu lapped twice by winner Lando Norris. Bottas and Zhou were also comfortably slowest in qualifying and never remotely looked like troubling the tail end of the midfield.

Bottas suspected Zandvoort’s layout, as well as the blustery weekend-long winds, exacerbated matters for the already struggling operation.

“I don't think there's a quick fix, but this track is quite unique and this kind of wind we rarely get, so I'm still optimistic that we can have better weekends, and hoping that this was the outlier,” Bottas said.

The dreadful display indicates the scale of the task faced by owners Audi ahead of the German marque’s arrival as a full works team in 2026.

Winners Everywhere

Perhaps it should not be surprising that—after maiden wins this year for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri—for the second successive race, the entire list of drivers in the top-10 was made up of past Grand Prix winners.

Prior to the pre-summer event in Belgium such a scenario had never before occurred throughout Formula 1 history.

Haas Resolves Embarrassing Uralkali Situation

Haas is on its way to Monza after former title sponsor Uralkali confirmed receipt of payment. A Swiss court concluded in June that Haas must refund around $10 million to Uralkali, the amount which related to the 2022 season after the date of termination, an outcome which was not disputed by Haas.

Uralkali had previously expressed frustration that Haas had not immediately refunded the money and decided to escalate matters further in the Netherlands, with the Dutch courts upholding the Swiss ruling, prompting bailiffs to visit the paddock on Thursday and take an inventory of components.

Haas duly made the payment on Friday, and packed up as usual on Sunday night, but opted to keep its trucks inside the paddock at Zandvoort until Uralkali was able to confirm it had received the funds. That process was confirmed as completed on Monday lunchtime and Haas’ trucks are now able to make their way to Monza, ensuring that the team can still ready for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in plenty of time.

Uralkali further confirmed that it has also collected the race car—a 2021-spec car previously raced by Nikita Mazepin—which was owed under the terms of the sponsorship agreement.

It is nonetheless an embarrassing and avoidable situation for Haas, a throwback to days gone by, when some now-defunct teams were existing hand-in-mouth and having to ward off claimants.

It was not a case that Haas didn’t have the money, rather the team was slow in returning the money to Uralkali for the time period of the contract that was not fulfilled after its legal termination. It was a bad look for the team, as it played out in public, acting as a distraction and frustration for the personnel on the ground who had nothing to do with management failings elsewhere.

Pulling and Pin Share F1 Academy wins

F1 Academy returned to action at Zandvoort, with Alpine junior Abbi Pulling and Mercedes youngster Doriane Pin sharing the victories.

Track position proved vital at the narrow circuit, with Pulling and Pin both converting pole position into wins in Race 1 and Race 2 respectively. The races took place in quick succession on Sunday morning, with Race 1 having been postponed from Saturday afternoon after a violent storm rattled through Zandvoort.

Pulling, who was third in Race 2, has a comfortable 71-point advantage over Pin in the championship, with three rounds remaining. American Chloe Chambers had her least competitive showing of the season, mustering only sixth in Race 1 and a disappointing 12th in Race 2, but still holds third position in the standings.