Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries are the main names that have come up to occupy the seat currently held by Nicholas Latifi, even before the Dutchman strengthened his candidacy after his great debut in Monza, where he finished ninth, ahead of the Canadian in both the classification as in the race.
However, De Vries also sounds for other more succulent teams. On the one hand, he will do a test with Alpine, and on the other hand, on Friday he met Red Bull’s Helmut Marko in Graz with a view to a seat at AlphaTauri next season, now that it is clear that Colton Herta will not be able to get the super license.
It is understood that the agreement between De Vries and Red Bull is not yet closed, far from it. But if it is finally confirmed, Pierre Gasly will be free and will be able to sign for Alpine , which seems to be the French driver’s wish.
If that happens, Williams’ focus will shift entirely to Sargeant , who has enjoyed a strong first season in the F2 championship and is also due to drive the FW44 in FP1 at Austin, his Grand Prix of House.
However, the American must finish the season in at least fifth place, to guarantee the FIA superlicence, an essential requirement to race in Formula 1.
He is currently third with 135 points, but could drop a lot of places if he has a bad weekend in Abu Dhabi. Jack Doohan , Jehan Daruvala and Enzo Fittipaldi have 126 points, while Liam Lawson has 117, Frederik Vesti 114 and Juri Vips 110.
If Sargeant ultimately doesn’t get the points needed for the super license, Williams will have to look elsewhere or else continue to rely on Latifi ‘s services.
Antonio Giovinazzi, who like de Vries will feature in the Alpine test and is also linked to Mick Schumacher’s seat at Haas, is believed to be high on Grove’s list, while Mick himself cannot be ruled out either. Schumacher.
Another option is that Williams and Alpine could revive the loan deal originally planned for Oscar Piastri, but this time with Doohan .
Williams principal Jost Capito made it clear at Monza last weekend that the team was open to the possibility of hiring a rookie driver.
“There’s a good roster of young drivers,” Capito told Motorsport.com. “There are also some experienced drivers. So I think there are different philosophies and strategies.”
“And in our situation, we can work on different strategies. We’re not in such a forward position that we need to have two very experienced drivers, so we can experiment a bit and give the youngsters opportunities. We’ll see what’s best.”
Asking whether he thinks Sargeant is ready to make the move to F1, he said: “I think he is ready. Yes, he needs some points [for the superlicence]. Of course, if he doesn’t get them, we can’t do anything either. But yes, I trust you are ready.”
Bringing an American driver onto the Formula 1 grid would be a huge boost for Williams commercially, especially after what happened with Herta. However, Capito denied that this was one of the reasons that would push the team to make such a decision.
“We would not bring him for that. If he comes it is because we believe he is ready and capable, if we do not believe that, nothing at all. He could stay another year in F2, or whatever,” concluded the Grove.
