Williams warn Sargeant: Get things under control!

Williams Team Principal James Vowles says Logan Sargeant needs to get things under control, with the American having had a somewhat error-strewn start to the season.

Sargeant had a solid F1 debut in Bahrain, crossing the line 12th to finish the race as the highest rookie, ahead of Nyck de Vries and the non-finishing Oscar Piastri.

However, the American then had a tougher sequence of events, crashing in qualifying in Jeddah, colliding with de Vries at the final restart in Australia, and missing the Sprint event in Baku after a heavy crash in SQ1.

The 22-year-old was hopeful of a good showing at his home race in Miami last time out, but his afternoon was ruined after early contact with Lance Stroll left him needing a new nose cone, condemning him to a 20th place finish.

"Logan's here because he's quick, and he is quick, he can deliver," Vowles told Motorsport.com. “But he has to start by just getting things controlled, delivering cleanly.

"In both qualifying sessions in Baku he made it to Q2. That's the consistency, and that's what we're looking for.

"What I've already explained to him is 'you’re quick enough'. And then, 'use Q2 to build your experience by almost double from what you're doing at the moment'.

"And that's what you'll start seeing him deliver on. You'll see that he'll slowly edge up.

"I'm not expecting him to be on Alex's pace. Also, he's had a string of races he's never even been to before.

"But even [in Miami], disappointed as he was, there was just three-tenths between him and Alex [in Q1]. It just so happened that was seven cars. But three-tenths, that's how close it's getting now."

Sargeant not to blame for Stroll contact in Miami

Vowles emphasised that Sargeant's Miami mishap was not his fault, and stressed that the rookie should use the rest of the race as an extended test session, with no realistic hope of scoring points.

"It was just racing incident," said Vowles. "And all that happened was the Aston Martin came alongside, there was not enough room. But it wasn't that either one did anything wrong.

"He took it badly would be the right word, but I haven't at all. As I explained to him, tell me another time that you'll get 50 laps where you can play with the car and learn in free air, by yourself.

"He's a rookie, he's got a handful of races under his belt. And that opportunity is invaluable. And he used it afterwards. If you look at his pace, you'll see he's there or thereabouts.

"His frustration is that he wanted a clean execution, and he didn't have it. My alternative is the remainder of the race was positive."