Logan Sargeant’s fiery dismissal of ‘not talking to team boss’ accusation

Logan Sargeant says Marcus Ericsson’s claims that he and Williams F1 team principal James Vowles are no longer on speaking terms is “completely untrue”.

Former F1 driver turned IndyCar racer Ericsson told the Viaplay F1 Podcast he has heard that Sargeant and Vowles’ relationship has become strained to the point they are no longer talking.

“I was told by some American friends who know Sargeant [that] he doesn’t have fun in that team,” Ericsson said. “He thinks it’s really hard and apparently he and Vowles don’t even talk with each other anymore, they barely greet each other. It’s completely cut off between them.”

Asked about Ericsson’s comments ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Sargeant told media including Crash.net: “Marcus Ericsson has a reputation of talking about other people without ever even having a conversation with me in his life.

“So yeah, it doesn’t carry any weight. It’s not true. I just had a conversation here with James 20 minutes ago. And most importantly, me and James, we both come here and we want to do the best for the team, we both work in the same direction for what is best for the team, and ultimately, what is best for the team is best for me.

"So it’s just completely untrue.”

Sargeant added: “It hasn’t been a particularly easy season with the amount of things that have happened, both for me, from a team perspective, we’ve struggled in some areas.

“So of course it can look like our relationship is worse than it is from the outside. But yeah. We just go to work as usual, and keep trying to perform the best we can.”

Sargeant, who revealed he was planning to speak with Vowles one-to-one following his media session on Thursday, stressed he won’t seek out Ericsson to challenge his claim.

"I’ve never spoken to him in my life! I don’t plan on it either way,” the American added.

Asked if he has had to grow a thick skin to deal with people dragging him down this year, Sargeant replied: “It’s been this way for a long time now. It is what it is.

“Like I always say, the most important thing is that we’re all working towards the same goal. That will never change. And we all want what’s best for the whole team.”