F1 team slammed for 'cut-throat' decision on eve of Australian GP as driver brutally axed

Logan Sargeant will not drive at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix after his team Williams took the decision to place team-mate Alex Albon into his car instead.

Albon suffered a heavy crash in the first session of Friday practice when he lost control of his car at Turn 6 and slammed into the opposite barrier.

He suffered major damage to his car, and was forced to sit out the remainder of FP1 and then FP2 as Williams attempted to work out whether they could repair his chassis.

Williams later confirmed that they did not have a third chassis available - effectively leaving the team with a big decision over whether to field Sargeant or Albon as their sole F1 driver if they could not fix the existing car part.

The team subsequently announced on social media that Albon's car was too badly damaged - and that he would take over Sargeant's car for the weekend.

While the Thai driver is the number one driver in the team and has therefore taken precedence over his team-mate in this situation, fans were left unimpressed that Sargeant has been impacted by an accident that did not involve him.

One wrote: "I've just lost a ton of respect for you. Totally unfair!"

Another agreed: "Have some shame, this is beyond embarrassing and unfair."

Another said: "This is so damn disrespectful to Logan."

A fourth stated: "Absolutely disgraceful, don't see why Logan has to pay."

And a fifth fumed: "Totally unfair at the beginning of the season with both drivers on zero points. Logan is being punished for Alex crashing the car."

Neither Albon nor Sargeant have scored points for Williams in two races in the 2024 season, with Albon finishing in 11th place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah earlier this month. Sargeant finished 14th in the same race.