Ranked: The last 11 F1 drivers to be sacked in-season – including Logan Sargeant

Logan Sargeant lost out on his Williams seat in Formula 1 partway through his second season in the sport, which sees him join very rare company. After all, it can be somewhat rare for an F1 team to sack a driver mid-season.

We’re ranking the 11 drivers most recently sacked partway through a season. This ranking factors in both F1 results as well as the driver’s results in other race series.

11. Rio Haryanto

Rio Haryanto ranks last on our list of Formula 1 drivers sacked mid-season for one big reason: He never even made it through a full year in F1. Haryanto joined Manor in 2016 before he was demoted to reserve driver after losing funding.

He shelved his motorsport ambitions soon after, going on to become a golfer.

10. Christijan Albers

Dutch driver Christijan Albers was fired by the Spyker F1 Team in 2007 after he failed to bring the necessary sponsorship money to justify the team keeping him around.

Albers is the only driver on this list who served as an F1 team principal later on – though his role at the doomed Caterham couldn’t save the team from folding.

9. Logan Sargeant

After just 36 Formula 1 starts with Williams, Logan Sargeant was dropped ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He was replaced by rookie Franco Colapinto, leaving him with a less-than-impressive F1 record of scoring only a single point.

However, Sargeant’s status on this list may change. The drivers ranked above him have largely gone on to have comfortable racing careers in other disciplines – and there’s still a great chance the same could happen for Sargeant.

8. Jolyon Palmer

Renault’s Jolyon Palmer lasted about a year and a half with the team before being dropped halfway through his second season, to be replaced by Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. It was a tough break for the driver, but he had only scored nine points in his 35-race career.

Rather than continue racing, Palmer has established a fantastic career as a Formula 1 analyst, first for the BBC and now for F1TV.

7. Nelson Piquet Jr.

Partway through 2009, Nelson Piquet Jr. was fired from the Renault team due to lack of performance; he responded to the firing by informing the world that he had been informed to crash intentionally at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. It kicked off a scandal that rocked the F1 world all year long.

Unfortunately for Piquet, his role in Crashgate saw him suffer a dark mark to his reputation – but he did go on to become the inaugural Formula E champion for the 2014-2015 season, proving his skillset was still there.

6. Nyck de Vries

While Nyck de Vries may not have scored a single point in Formula 1 or even contested a whole season, the Dutch driver’s skillset simply didn’t translate to the series. He was fired by AlphaTauri in favour of Daniel Ricciardo.

That being said, de Vries has been immensely successful elsewhere. He has won a championship title in both Formula 2 and Formula E, and he’s also taken a handful of victories in the World Endurance Championship. Should his Toyota Gazoo Racing team continue to thrive, he could also take a title in WEC this year.

More Logan Sargeant rankings:

👉 Where are they now? The last 10 F1 drivers to be sacked during the season

👉 US F1 drivers ranked: Logan Sargeant 18th and Phil Hill beaten to No.1 spot

5. Pedro de la Rosa

Pedro de la Rosa was an omnipresent force in Formula 1 between 1999 and 2012, though the Spaniard wasn’t always actively competing; rather, he regularly served as a test and reserve driver. In 2010, de la Rosa was sacked in favour of Nick Heidfeld – but he was able to go on to secure a drive with HRT later.

With one second-place finish and a career total of 35 points, de la Rosa earns his fifth place on our list.

4. Scott Speed

Scott Speed competed in just 28 events for Toro Rosso before he was sacked in the middle of the 2007 season. He failed to score a single point in his F1 career, but Speed’s true skillset comes in the form of rallycross.

Speed has taken championships in both the Americas and Global Rallycross championships, and he’s taken three gold medals in the RallyCross category at the X Games.

3. Daniil Kvyat

Daniil Kvyat was a promising member of the Red Bull Junior program, which earned him a seat at Toro Rosso and a promotion to Red Bull in 2014. Unfortunately, midway through 2016, Daniil Kvyat was demoted to Scuderia Toro Rosso while Max Verstappen was promoted. Then, in 2017, Kvyat was fired after 14 races.

Unlike other drivers on our list, though, Kvyat was re-signed to Toro Rosso in 2019 and 2020. He has since gone into endurance racing, while also contesting a handful of NASCAR events.

2. Nick Heidfeld

Of all the drivers on this list, Nick Heidfeld’s Formula 1 career was the longest and also the most successful. He competed in 183 different races between 2000 and 2011, scoring 13 podiums, one pole position, two fastest laps, and 259 total career points in the process.

Further, Heidfeld has taken a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and spent several years competing in Formula E and the World Endurance Championship.

1. Sebastien Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais is, without a doubt, the most successful overall driver on this list. Though he was fired partway through his second year with Toro Rosso in 2009, the former F1 driver was seriously successful elsewhere.

Bourdais won four successive Champ Car World Series championships from 2004 to 2007, while also taking one class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and three second places overall. He’s also taken victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Read next: Seven reasons why US drivers like Logan Sargeant struggle to make it in Formula 1