A teammate's crash has knocked American Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant out of Saturday's Australian Grand Prix.
The Williams team announced that it is giving Sargeant's car to teammate Alex Albon, whose own chassis was severely damaged in his practice crash on Friday morning in Melbourne.
"While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend," team boss James Vowles said.
"This decision was not made lightly, and we cannot thank Logan enough for his graceful acceptance, demonstrating his dedication to the team; he is a true team player. This will prove a tough weekend for Williams, and this situation is not one that we will put ourselves in again."
Albon, 27, is Williams' lead driver after accumulating 27 of the team's 28 points in 2023.
Albon said he empathized with Sargeant over the decision to bump him from his ride.
"I have to be totally honest and say that no driver would want to give up his seat," said Albon, per motorsport.com.
"Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won't be an easy one for him to take. At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximize our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible."
Sargeant, 23, the only active U.S. driver in F1, called Williams' move the "hardest moment" of his career.
"This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it's absolutely not easy," he said. "I am however completely here for the team and will continue to contribute in any way that I can this weekend to maximize what we can do."
According to Vowles, Williams did not bring a third chassis to Australia because of delays it faced this winter getting its cars ready for the 2024 F1 season.
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