Formula 1: One team holds the key to a very unusual occurrence

If Logan Sargeant returns to Williams for the 2024 Formula 1 season, the driver lineup for next year will not see any changes from 2023.

With just two races remaining on the 2023 Formula 1 schedule, there is only one team without two confirmed drivers for next season: Williams.

The Grove-based team confirmed the return of Alexander Albon quite some time ago, but there has long been doubt over the future of Logan Sargeant, whose rookie season in 2023 has left a lot to be desired.

However, all indications have been that Williams plan to bring the 22-year-old Floridian back for a second season in 2024, even as his struggles have clearly hindered the team’s point total in the constructor standings.

Thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification, Sargeant became the first American driver to score a point in a Formula 1 race since Michael Andretti in 1993, and he did it on his home soil at Circuit of the Americas in the United States Grand Prix.

Should Sargeant return to Williams in 2024, next year’s Formula 1 driver lineup will be the exact same as this year’s.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are set to continue with Red Bull. Hamilton and George Russell are set to continue with Mercedes. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. are set to continue with Ferrari. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are set to continue with McLaren. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are set to continue with Aston Martin.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are set to continue with Alpine. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are set to continue with AlphaTauri. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are set to continue with Alfa Romeo. And finally, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg are set to continue with Haas.

The only “change” will have happened during the 2023 season itself, with Ricciardo having been called upon by AlphaTauri to replace the struggling Nyck de Vries 10 races into the year.

This, of course, assumes that Red Bull keep their word on bringing back Perez for 2024, which we have no reason to believe they won’t do at this point. But you never know; stranger things have happened. And we certainly aren’t discounting the possibility of in-season changes next year, either.

The final two races of the 2023 are the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Street Circuit on Sunday, November 19 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, November 26.

The record-breaking 24-race 2024 Formula 1 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 2 with the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit.