First in-season F1 driver change of 2024 tipped
“Williams are asking the FIA for special dispensation."
Logan Sargeant could become the first F1 driver of 2024 to lose his drive mid-season.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes junior, is tipped to take his place for the second half of this campaign by those inside the paddock.
Neither Sargeant nor highly-rated teammate Alex Albon have scored a point in the first five rounds.
“The talk in China last weekend is that Antonelli will be in the second Williams, alongside Alex Albon, from the summer break onwards,” FIA press conference host Tom Clarkson shared on the F1 Nation podcast.
“He turns 18 at the end of August.
“Williams are asking the FIA for special dispensation.
“Max Verstappen raced in Formula 1 aged 17, why can’t Antonelli?
“But I think the rules are now set. And there won’t be a dispensation.
“I see Antonelli in the Williams, in the second half of the season, replacing Sargeant.”
Antonelli has been strongly linked with replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season.
He is racing in his rookie year in Formula 2 but Toto Wolff has talked up his prodigious ability.
Antonelli has tested Mercedes F1 cars this season in an obvious opportunity to get to grips with the demands.
Should Mercedes place their faith in Antonelli as a full-time driver next season, then loaning him to Williams for the second half of this year would give him a headstart in learning the ropes in F1.
American driver Sargeant will continue to come under scrutiny for his place on the grid.
Williams insisted they retained faith in him, despite removing him from his car to let Albon (who had crashed his own car) to take over in Australia.
