Logan Sargeant may have ended his Formula 1 career at Suzuka.
Although the well-financed Felipe Drugovich, Mick Schumacher and Red Bull-backed Liam Lawson are all loudly knocking on the door, Williams appeared determined to give its American rookie another chance in 2024.
It is the final vacancy on next year’s grid, with Sargeant in pole position and simply under instruction by team boss James Vowles to have clean weekends and make progress.
He then crashed heavily in Suzuka qualifying on the exit of the chicane.
"It’s difficult," said the 22-year-old. "On the one hand you want to be aggressive, on the other you don’t want to make any mistakes.
"I’m not trying to put the car in the wall. I can’t say anything else. I’m trying to do my best," he told Viaplay.
"The hard thing is that I know I have the pace, but these little mistakes cause me a lot of problems.
"Honestly, I don’t have the energy now to think about my future. All I care about is doing my best every time."
Former F1 driver Timo Glock said on Sky Deutschland: "I’m curious to see what James Vowles does next. He’s always been standing behind him and saying we have to give Logan time.
"But there are so many mistakes now that it’s hurting the team in terms of budget. You can see on the faces of the mechanics that they’re suffering too.
"The question now is whether he is still viable for the team. In my opinion, there are enough options for Williams," Glock added.
Ralf Schumacher, meanwhile, said of Sargeant: "Sorry, but he’s in the wrong series. You shouldn’t be making mistakes like this in Formula 1.
"He’s overwhelmed. He tries to force it but it doesn’t work that way in F1."
It is believed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff tried to convince Vowles that Schumacher is Williams’ best bet for 2024 by sending his former Mercedes colleague Mick’s simulation data.
Vowles was reportedly not impressed, while Red Bull’s Christian Horner also thinks the Williams boss "will not want to sign Liam (Lawson) for one year only".
"It’s given us a lot to think about," Horner added, "because he’s done everything he needed justify a permanent seat. But we only have two seats per team."
It’s more likely that Lawson will simply sit on the reserve bench throughout 2024 in the hope of making the big step up for 2025.
"Daniel Ricciardo wants to go back to Red Bull - that’s his goal," said Dr Helmut Marko. "To do that, he has to show appropriate performances.
"But Daniel and also Sergio (Perez) are already over 30. We also have to think about the future and be prepared."