Formula One new boy Logan Sargeant is yet to score his first career points following a mixed start to life on the grid, but he’s hoping Baku or his home State race in Miami will be the perfect place to kickstart his season.
The 22-year-old has been on the books of Williams for a year-and-a-half, driving in F2 for Carlin and recording a fourth-place finish in the 2022 season. But following the departure of Nicholas Latifi, a seat in F1 opened up and Sargeant was promoted. The decision to promote Sargeant to F1 has been a much-debated topic - but in the eyes of Williams and team principal James Vowles, who worked with Logan at Mercedes a number of years back, his pace and maturity earned him the seat.
Sargeant’s first race for Williams saw him cross the line in 12th in Bahrain, and the highest among rookie drivers Oscar Piastri and Nyck de Vries. Saudi Arabia, however, wasn’t so fruitful as Sargeant missed out on Q2 after having a lap time deleted for crossing the pit entry line at the end of his run. A 16th-placed finish followed on Sunday and Australia wasn’t any better, DNF’ing after crashing into the back of De Vries’ AlphaTauri on lap one following a restart to finish the final two laps of the race.
“It’s been up and down, definitely there have been a lot more positives than negatives,” Sargeant exclusively told Mirror Sport. “I think pace-wise it’s been pretty strong, Saudi was disappointing because we had a really good chance to have a great qualifying there, it didn’t come together.
"I think there’s plenty of things to work on but as a whole, it’s been a strong first bit and we're going to keep building on that, and even more positive is we have a car that is capable of fighting for Q2 and even Q3 on our best days.”
Azerbaijan, which also has the first sprint race of the season, is up next in the 23-race F1 calendar and Sargeant is laser-focused on scoring his first points finish in F1 and helping the team build on the one point they’ve accumulated so far in the Constructors Championship. Sargeant says he wants a top-ten finish in Baku but wants to make Miami in early May one of his best races to date.
“I’d like to do it in Baku [score first F1 points], because I want to get it out of the way as soon as possible,” Sargeant added. “ I think that would be special [to score points in Miami] but I expect Miami to be a very difficult weekend. Hot, humid, a track I’ve never been to, a very busy weekend for myself.
“So, I expect it to be a challenging one but I do want it to be one of my best [races] so I'll put a lot of prep into it to make sure I’m ready for it. But if I can get it done in Baku, I’ll get it done in Baku.”
A return to Florida would also allow Sargeant to be close to his family, who he’ll undoubtedly want to put a show on for. “My family I lean on a lot,” He said. “They've been great with me over the past years coming to this point and continuing with me, continuing to support me. And as well with my managers and trainers especially, I feel very comfortable with them to speak about whatever is on my mind. They’re always there for me and they’re the strong people who help me outside of the team.”
Williams teammate Alex Albon is also helping the rookie settle into life in F1, as is team principal Vowles. Albon has 62 races under his belt, including a stint as defending F1 champion Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull between 2019 and 2021. " Yeah, I think Alex has been a great teammate," Sargeant said with a smile. " As you know, drivers keep things in their pocket, of course. He’s extremely quick, he’s experienced but he’s a great teammate for me to learn from, he’s a great reference for me at the moment.
"We’re both pushing each other, we’re both pushing harder to push the team forward and improve the car because ultimately that’s what's going to get me, Alex and the team scoring points more regularly and that’s what we’re after.”
Sargeant and Albon singing from the same hymn sheet will be music to Vowles' ears. The car has pace and results are expected to come. " I feel like ever since I joined this team a year and a half ago, they’ve always supported me," Sargeant concluded. " The support has always been there. James has been a great addition to the team, he’s worked with young drivers in the past and he’s immediately come in, I can see how smart he is and how great he is to the team, he’s changing the culture. And even for a young driver like myself, he’s already giving me advice and helping me along the way. It’s been a really great start to our working relationship.”
