Williams' Logan Sargeant Out Of Australia Grand Prix After Controversial Team Decision After Albon Crash

Williams has revealed that American driver Logan Sargeant has been benched ahead of the Australian Grand Prix after his teammate Alex Albon crashed his car beyond repair in the weekend's first practice session.

Without a spare chassis for Alex Albon, the team has decided to give Sargeant the weekend off and put Albon in his car.

It's a brutal decision that team boss James Vowles said wasn't taken lightly, but it shows that the team absolutely means business as far as climbing up the standings.

He also said the fact that the team is in this predicament in the first place is "unacceptable."

"We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend," Vowles said. "It's unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis, but it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future. As a result, we have had some very difficult decisions to make this afternoon.

"While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend."

Alex ALbon's heavy crash in FP1 put Williams in a major predicament. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)

It's A Brutal Decision, But In The Long Run, It Might Be The Right One

This is a brutal situation and certainly unfair to Sargeant, but like Vowles said, every race counts and Williams needs to score.

Williams hasn't registered a point this season, and it's pretty well known that their car is best suited for certain tracks. Australia would be one of them. There are lots of high-speed sections where their car performs well, plus the attrition rate in Australia tends to be high, which helps make getting into the points just a little bit easier (if you can stay out of trouble yourself).

Williams currently sits P7 in the constructors standings despite being tied at 0 points with RB, Sauber, and Alpine. Even stealing one point will go a long way considering how some of those teams have struggled out of the gate.

Even though we're just three races into the season, it's clear that the team feels like they can't afford to not score in Melbourne. While it's unfortunate for Sargeant, the truth of the matter is that Albon provides the best shot at doing just that.

Vowles is an analytical guy, and if you're just looking at the stats, Albon leads in pretty much every metric including average starting position and — crucially for points — average finishing position.

Still, it's a major decision — one they clearly didn't take lightly — to make just three races into the season. 

Williams Alex Albon (right) dubbed Logan Sargeant a "consummate professional" for the way he has handled a tough weekend in Australia. (Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)

Sargeant Handling Brutal Situation Like A "Consummate Professional"

You've got to feel for Logan Sargeant in this one, but to his credit, he's taking it like a true team player, and that should go a long way.

"This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it's absolutely not easy," Sargeant said, per F1's website. "I am however completely here for the team and will continue to contribute in any way that I can this weekend to maximize what we can do."

Albon also thanked Sargeant — who he dubbed a "consummate professional" — for handling the rough situation the way he has.

"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 maximize our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible."

Now, the pressure is on Albon to claw his way into the points to make the most of what is proving to be a trying weekend for Williams.