Williams rookie Logan Sargeant believed his dream of racing in Formula 1 was “dead” when he returned to Formula 3 for a third year in the category two seasons ago.
However the 22-year-old will make his Formula 1 debut for Williams this year. He has been promoted to the top flight following a single season in Formula 2 with Carlin.
Sargeant almost won the FIA F3 title in 2020 racing with Prema. He lost out to team mate Oscar Piastri by just three points in the final round after being involved in an accident in the final race.
In 2021 Sargeant returned to F3 with Charouz but was not a championship contender, taking just a single race win on his way to seventh in the standings. He competed in endurance races in the European Le Mans Series and the Le Mans Cup in the same year and admits that he did not believe he would ever reach Formula 1 at the time.
“I was 100% sure it was dead at that point, to be honest,” Sargeant told media including RaceFans at the launch of Williams’ FW45 livery. “At that point I just thought, ‘okay, it’s going to be heading towards the LMP or IndyCar route’. Which at the time I was content with.
“It was just my reality at the time, that’s where I felt like was my only two places I could still turn to. The F3 seat was just simply to pass some time and stay in a car and help a team move forward, a different position for myself. The LMP2 races, GT race, was just again a bit of fun and get a bit of experience in endurance and sports car racing. To be honest I feel like it in the end it was all extremely beneficial and helped me massively and so I’m glad I did it all.”
Sargeant joins Formula 1 as the first full-time American driver since Scott Speed in 2007 and the first American to race in F1 since Alexander Rossi in the 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix. After Williams finished tenth and last in the constructors’ championship in 2022, Sargeant has no defined target for what he wants to achieve in his first season in F1.
“There’s definitely no point putting a numerical position on it,” Sargeant said. “I think in the end of the day, I need to come into this season willing to learn as much as I can, be open, be adaptable, and ultimately that’s how I’m going to eventually get the most performance I can out of the car.
“Obviously, ideally [I want] to be on top of it as soon as possible, if not immediately, and go from there. So I don’t want to put a date on it or anything. It’s just going to be about fast-tracking as much as I can.”
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