Jost Capito has dropped a hint that his Williams team could confirm their plan to race Logan Sargeant in Formula 1 next season as soon as this weekend.
Nicholas Latifi will be released at the end of the year. And Williams have not yet declared who will be replacing the Canadian from next season – it is one of just two spaces on the 2023 grid which remains open, the other being at Haas.
Sargeant has, for a while, been considered as a front-runner for the vacant seat. He is a member of the team's driver development programme, and has performed well in F2 so far this year.
He could also be the first American driver to race in F1 since 2015, when Alex Rossi had five cracks at the sport with Manor.
Given the United States Grand Prix takes place this weekend, it would be an ideal time – from a marketing perspective at least – to announce Sargeant.
And Capito has hinted that they could be gearing up to do exactly that. Asked during a fan Q&A in Austin when he thinks an American driver could next be seen on the F1 grid, the Williams boss replied: "Follow the news and you might see something on Saturday."
Even if Sargeant has been identified as their top choice, announcing him publicly at Austin this weekend would come with a small risk.
He does not currently hold an FIA superlicence, and must finish sixth in the F2 standings while keeping his licence clean of penalty points to qualify for one.
Sargeant is currently third in the standings so looks well-placed, but his recent results have not been ideal. With just one F2 race weekend remaining in the season, he is 12 points clear of Liam Lawson in seventh place and so is not guaranteed to earn enough points for a superlicence.
To help him, he took part in FP1 for Williams this weekend. That earned him an extra point, and also gave Capito and the other team bosses a chance to assess his talent behind the wheel of an F1 car.
"First of all, we want to see discipline from him," said Capito ahead of the session. "It's not about lap time, it's about getting the development programme and getting the data that we need in FP1.
"It's all about that and he will be measured against how well he is doing this and not about lap time."
