But did he really show any trend of improvement over the course of the season? I'm genuinenly asking, but it didn't appear like it to me.
If there isn't much of an indication he's improving, why would anyone expect better results next year? It's not like he's going to have opportunity to improve his pace or consistency during the off-season.
I would say there was some improvement In the last third of season. He wasn't crashing anymore and was consistent in the time difference (more or less) to albon as well.
On top of that, we just don't see the data the team is seeing when it comes to an improvement.
One other thing to keep in mind. There is a supposedly very talented new driver starting in F2 next year that could drive for Williams in 2025, so that could play into the decision as well. Although I just looked for it and couldn't find it. I think Alex Jaques talked abiut it in the last F2 sessions.
Tbf to Logan, Albon's car was often far more updated than Logan. I'm not saying that Logan would have beaten Albon, but a lot of the gap was car related.
Overall this is a great signing for them. It continues to build faith in their academy program, which hopefully should prove itself in the future. If they had dropped Sargeant for a RB/Merc Junior it would have definitely played against them for prospective signings.
He's shown flashes of speed (was it Jeddah qualy where he had a great lap that got deleted?) and seems to have gotten his crashing under control during the second half of the season.
He's not been close to Albon, but at this point i rate Albon really highly so that doesn't mean too much. He was good in both karting and junior series, so there is potential there, and by all accounts the team seems to love working with him so it makes sense to keep him on for another year instead of resetting.
He will have to step up and show improvement next year, though.