Alex Albon’s ‘behind closed doors’ comment after brutal Logan Sargeant axing

Having put out an initial statement of support for Logan Sargeant, Alex Albon will be keeping his own council on his team-mate’s sacking as he welcomes rookie signing Franco Colapinto to Williams.

Sargeant recorded his final crash as a Williams driver at Zandvoort, a crash that was reportedly worth more than a million dollars, before days later being dropped by the team in favour of junior driver Colapinto.

Alex Albon: I’ll leave it like that…

Williams’ announcement on Tuesday effectively brought Sargeant’s Formula 1 career to an abrupt halt nine races earlier than scheduled given the American had already learned he would not be on the grid next season as the team had signed Carlos Sainz as Albon’s team-mate.

But while Colapinto’s management team revealed they received a “can we talk” text after Sargeant’s crash in the morning, having joked about calling Williams themselves, Albon says it was a “late decision” and one he was only informed of shortly before it was made public.

“I think clearly it was quite a late decision, so I didn’t hear so long before the announcement,” he said in the build-up to the Italian Grand Prix weekend. “Obviously, this week with Logan, I’ll keep that behind closed doors.

“But you know, great guy, and we got on very well. I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him. And yeah you know I feel, I feel for him, for sure. But yeah, I’ll leave it like that.”

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He’s backed Sargeant, the first American to score points in F1 since Michael Andretti 30 years earlier, to bounce back in his racing career with the 23-year-old already linked to a move to IndyCar.

“Obviously, more than anything I know Logan personally,” he added. “He’s a super guy and things didn’t work out.

“But now I’m sure whatever he gets on and moves on to do, he’s gonna be very good. I know the pace that he has.”

As for Colapinto, Albon reckons he has two things going in his favour ahead of his Formula 1 debut. The first is that he’s racing at Monza, one of the more forgiving circuits on the calendar, and the second being that he already knows he’s not racing for a spot on next year’s grid as Williams have already locked in their line-up.

“At the same time,” he continued, “of course, you know, Franco is now joining, so there’s a bit of a learning curve for him, but I think he’s coming at the right moment.

“If I could choose a track to do my first race at, I think Monza is one of the more forgiving ones, better than Baku or Singapore.

“I think in some ways it’s a nice thing that he’s got, in my opinion. He knows the seat is not up for grabs next year. There’s no pressure in terms of having to deliver, you’re not trying to get a seat for next year.

“So in some ways, I think it’s more just a bit of experience. I don’t know what Franco’s going to do next year, but the things you learn in F1 can help you a lot in, let’s say, if he does another year in Formula Two next year.

“So enjoy it. And of course, there is a bit of a learning curve, but he’s been in the car a couple times already, so I don’t think it will be such a big thing. Maybe more about the physicality when we go to Qatar and Singapore, that will be a bit of a surprise, I think, or not a surprise, but a difficult thing to get used to.

“But yeah, I think also Williams are great at educating and teaching the drivers how to get the most out of it, so I’ll try to help him as much as I can as well.”

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