Jolyon Palmer and Karun Chandhok agree that one driver should ‘never’ have been on the F1 grid in 2024

The 2024 Formula 1 season saw the grid shaken up after a winter of stability where for the first time in the sport’s history, every driver retained their seats.

All 20 drivers lined up at the Bahrain Grand Prix where they had ended the previous season, but that didn’t last too long.

Oliver Bearman took on cameo roles at Ferrari and Haas to step into Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen’s shoes.

Williams made the difficult decision to replace Logan Sargeant with Franco Colapinto for the final nine races of the campaign.

Rivals RB followed suit three Grand Prix later, saying farewell to Daniel Ricciardo to hand Liam Lawson his second debut.

The final change came in Abu Dhabi for the season finale when Alpine parted ways with Esteban Ocon ahead of his move to Haas and gave Jack Doohan his Formula 1 debut.

A clear shift has happened in F1 over the past 12 months, with teams now much more keen to concentrate on youth.

Eddie Jordan called the lack of rookies in F1 ‘scandalous’ at the start of the year, but will be delighted that at least 20% of next year’s grid will be drivers taking part in their first full seasons.

Jolyon Palmer and Karun Chandhok have both been speaking about the driver changes that happened in F1 this year.

They agreed that Sargeant shouldn’t have been handed an F1 lifeline at the beginning of the year.

Logan Sargeant told he shouldn’t have had a Williams F1 seat in 2024

Palmer was speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast about Williams and said: “Williams, they’ve had sort of one and a bit drivers this year.

“Sargeant never should have stayed on. Colapinto had flashes of decency and scored some points.

READ MORE: Logan Sargeant’s life outside F1 from height to Donald Trump ties

“But even then, he was never going to be a long-term signing because they already had Sainz.

“So it was a strange appointment that filled the gap but also costs a lot of damage money as well. So I think Sainz and Albon’s going to be nice for the team next year. But we’re going to have to wait until 2026 to see if the ship is turning around.”

Fellow former F1 driver Chandhok echoed Palmer’s thoughts on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast and when talking about how Williams lined up at the beginning of the year, he admitted: “The only thing I’d say is I still don’t understand why they resigned Sargeant for this year.

“You know, I personally would have looked at a scenario where they had maybe Felipe Drugovich, for example, or somebody like that for a year.

“Look, in the end, Williams have had an absolute coup, haven’t they getting Carlos Sainz?

“So they are the big winners out of this whole driver market saga, they’ve got an amazing line-up for next year.”

Williams in a much stronger position with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz heading into 2025

Team principal James Vowles was committed to giving Sargeant every opportunity to prove he could improve this year but that never materialised.

His crash during practice at the Dutch Grand Prix having just installed new parts on the car was the final straw.

Colapinto proved to be an immediate upgrade on Sargeant, even if he too ended up being quite expensive after crashes in Sao Paulo and Las Vegas.

READ MORE: All to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes ties

However, the excitement at Grove will be building ahead of 2025 already when Sainz and Alex Albon team up.

Sainz has already impressed during Williams testing and will be the toughest teammate Albon has faced since his time alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

If they can motivate each other to new heights next year, then Williams will be confident that they can finish above ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.