Logan Sargeant may have lost his job at Williams in the middle of the 2024 season, but he is not the only Formula 1 driver to face a mid-season layoff.

Today we take a look at the last ten drivers who were released mid-season – and see where they stand now.

The last 10 F1 drivers who were fired during the season

Nicky Jones (2023)

Nyck de Vries was a surprise addition to the AlphaTauri squad in 2023, where the Formula 2 and Formula E champion would drive alongside Yuki Tsunoda. Unfortunately, he was never able to live up to the team’s high expectations and was heavily criticised for his performance. After 10 races, he had scored zero points compared to Tsunoda’s two, and after Silverstone, de Vries was fired and replaced by Daniel Ricciardo.

De Vries returned to Formula E for the 2023–24 season, where he finished 18th overall in the championship with Mahindra Racing. He currently competes in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing; with one win and a second place in the books, his team currently sits third overall in the championship.

Jolyon Palmer (2017)

Jolyon Palmer, son of former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, joined Renault full-time in Formula 1 in 2016 and part of 2017. However, he failed to get going in the series and never performed particularly well, leading to Renault announcing his withdrawal from the team before the United States Grand Prix. Instead, Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. would leave his team to take Palmer’s place.

Since leaving Formula 1 as a driver, however, Palmer has had a successful career as a media pundit, moving to BBC Radio 5 and now being one of F1 TV’s leading commentators with his own show called ‘Jolyon Palmer’s Analysis’.

Daniel Kvyat (2017)

As a junior driver at Red Bull, it was only a matter of time before Daniil Kyvat made it to Formula 1. However, as a junior driver at Red Bull, he had to perform quickly and well to keep his place. He joined Toro Rosso in 2014, before being promoted to Red Bull in 2015 and demoted back to Toro Rosso in 2016.

However, at the end of 2017, Toro Rosso announced that Kvyat would be removed from the team entirely and replaced by Pierre Gasly. However, Kvyat then had to be recalled for the US Grand Prix when Carlos Sainz Jr. left Toro Rosso to join Renault and when Gasly had to finish his commitments in Super Formula.

Kvyat returned to Toro Rosso in 2019 and 2020, but without much success. Instead, he now drives a Lamborghini Hypercar full-time in the World Endurance Championship and has done a few NASCAR drives.

The Rio Haryanto (2016)

Rio Haryanto’s F1 career was unfortunately short and uninspiring. He moved to Manor Racing in 2016, but Haryanto did not make it through the entire season before the team demoted him to reserve driver as his promised sponsorship from the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports had been blocked by parliament. Esteban Ocon took his place.

Haryanto switched to sports car racing in Asia in 2018 and 2019. Since then, he has started a career in professional golf.

Nick Heidfeld (2011)

Nick Heidfeld long held the record for most podium finishes and second places in Formula 1 without a win – an impressive feat for a career that began with the Prost team back in 2000. However, late in the 2011 season, Lotus Renault decided to replace Heidfeld with Bruno Senna after it became clear that the German was struggling.

Heidfeld has been active in endurance racing and Formula E for several years. This year, he and former Mahindra FE boss Dilbagh Gill announced the creation of the FG Series, an electric open-wheel racing series similar to Formula E.

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Peter the Great (2010)

Spanish Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa competed in 107 Grands Prix for teams as diverse as Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT – and he is the only driver on this list who was released and still managed to find a place with another team!

Sauber sacked de la Rosa in 2010 and replaced him with Nick Heidfeld after the Italian Grand Prix. De la Rosa has been a Pirelli test driver, McLaren reserve driver, HRT driver and Ferrari reserve driver.

Today, de la Rosa is an F1 ambassador for Aston Martin, technical and sporting advisor to the Techeetah Formula E team and an analyst for DAZN.

Sébastien Bourdais (2009)

Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais left American open-wheel racing to join Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, but halfway through his second season, he was out. Bourdais struggled to keep up with the pace of his rookie teammate Sebastien Buemi, and Toro Rosso promptly replaced Bourdais with Jaime Alguersuari.

Bourdais sued Toro Rosso, which settled for $2.1 million. Bourdais then returned to America to continue his successful IndyCar career. He also competed in the IMSA endurance racing series and competes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans every year.

Nelson Piquet Jr. (2009)

Nelson Piquet Jr. was fired by Renault in the middle of the 2009 season. An angry Piquet called Flavio Briatore his executioner… and subsequently took his former team to task, telling the FIA ​​that his accident at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was no accident at all: Briatore and engineer Pat Symonds told Piquet crashes to give Fernando Alonso a chance to win.

It was an unfortunate end to the 23-year-old Piquet’s Formula 1 career. He then competed in both NASCAR and the World Rallycross Championship before winning his first Formula E title in 2014-2015.

Today, Piquet Jr. races in the South American Stock Car ProSeries as well as in the TCR World Tour and the European Le Mans Series.

Scott Speed ​​​​- The Movie

Scott Speed ​​made history when he entered Formula One in 2006, becoming the first American F1 driver in over a decade. His time in the spotlight didn’t last long, however, and after 28 races, Speed ​​was replaced by Sebastian Vettel from Scuderia Toro Rossi in mid-2007.

But fate was clear. Speed ​​​​almost clashed with Franz Tost early in the 2007 season and openly admitted that he felt the team wanted to fire him.

After his F1 career ended, Speed ​​​​took part in several NASCAR events as well as numerous Global and Americas Rallycross Championship events, where he won four championships.

Speed ​​​​now competes in select rally events with Subaru.

Christian Albers (2007)

Last on our list is Dutch driver Christijan Albers, who was fired from the Spyker F1 team in 2007. He made his debut with the team in 2006 when it was still called Midland and had signed a contract with the team before it was bought by Spyker.

However, he was unable to raise enough sponsorship money to keep him on the team in 2007. He was fired and replaced first by Markus Winkelhock and then by Sakon Yamamoto.

Albers returned to DTM and sports car racing before briefly serving as team principal for the Caterham F1 team. Today, Albers works as an analyst for Viaplay.

Read more: Revealed: The reason for Logan Sargeant’s brutal dismissal during Williams driver change