WILLIAMS have sacrificed Logan Sargeant by dumping him OUT of the Australian GP after his teammate Alex Albon smashed up his own F1 car.

Ruthless bosses saw the London-born Thai racer have a high-speed accident during practice in Melbourne.

The impact with the barriers saw his Williams smashed to pieces but without enough spare parts to repair the car overnight, they decided to retire his chassis from the race.

But in a big kick in the balls they decided to put the former Red Bull driver in Sargeant's car instead, meaning the American will not get to drive.

The move casts doubt on Sargeant's future in the team and he was understandably left furious with the team.

The team released a press release with Sargeant quoted, although his mood is considered to be less sanguine.

It said: "This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it's not easy.

"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."

The statement confirmed that the broken chassis will be returned to their Grove HQ for repair.

Williams team boss James Vowles has been left red-faced by the team's failure to have enough spares to fix Albon's car.

And he paid tribute to Sargeant, calling him a "true team player" - words that will only grate with the American who is already fighting for his future.

Vowles said: "We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend.

Wolff said: "In the second session [we've] gone through a quite dramatic set-up change on Lewis' [car] and that has massively backfired.

Hamilton, who is quitting the team for Ferrari, has not won a race since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021.