A brief, honest look at F1 Driver Logan Sargeant

As the only driver on the grid from the United States, a lot of hope, as well as a lot of pressure has been pinned on Logan Sargeant, the 22-year-old from Florida. Now that there are three races in the US, along with a new and growing fan base, a fan base that F1 has sought after for decades, it is all too clear that the elephant in the room is that there are very few Americans actually competing in Formula One. One of the reasons for that seems to be that most Americans are partial to IndyCar racing, or even NASCAR. It’s an easier path to follow if you are from North America. For a driver to make it to Formula One they have to move to Europe at some point early in their careers. Some, like Logan Sargeant, did it at the age of twelve, while he was still karting, eventually winning the Karting World Championship there.

After that, Sargeant went into single seaters, and worked his way up to Formula 3, but the money was running out. In 2020, he went into the final race of the season tied with Oscar Piastri in points, but it was a day to forget for Sargeant, and he ended up finishing the season in third. Mercedes had been taking a look at him and passed, so it was looking like it might be the end of the road in terms of finding a seat in F1. Sargeant did have prospects in IndyCar and other series, so he took some time after the Formula 3 season to collect himself and contemplate his next move. That’s when Williams asked him to join their Junior Driver Program. It was a shot in the arm. He did another season in Formula 3 and moved on to Formula 2, where he finished fourth in 2022, and became the first driver from the United States to win a Formula 2 feature race when he won at Silverstone. He even went on to win at the Red Bull Ring a few weeks later, proving that he had the goods to compete.

Originally, however, Williams’ plan for Sargeant was for him to spend another season in F2 to get more experience and add points to his FIA Super License (which is required to compete in FIA events such as F1), but the world of F1 had other plans. Originally, Williams thought they would be getting Oscar Piastri on loan from Alpine to replace Nicholas Latifi for the 2023 season, but Piastri went to McLaren. Next on the list was Nyck de Vries, who came with a lot of experience in other racing categories, but Nick chose Alpha Tauri. With Williams still needing to fill their open seat, they decided to fast-track Sargeant and give him the shot he deserved. Unfortunately for de Vries, his own F1 career was cut short after being replaced by Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the 2023 season due to his lack of performance.

Sargeant is not in that predicament. While he hasn’t scored any points this season, he has come close, finishing 11th at Silverstone. Also, he continues to show signs of improvement. During the first half of the season he raced on a lot of tracks that he’s never been to before, and a lot of those tracks were street tracks with little room for error. He paid the price a few times, but nevertheless has stayed within a reasonable distance to his teammate Alex Albon, who is an exceptionally talented driver. After the summer break, Sargeant expects to come back rested and ready to compete on tracks that are more familiar to him. When asked if the time off will slow the momentum he’s been building, he says not at all.

All eyes will be on Sargeant for the second half of the season. There are those from the United States who want to see their country well represented in a sport where they are underrepresented, and there are those who want to see the American fail for their own personal reasons. After all, there are only twenty drivers in F1 and they can’t all win. As long as Sargeant continues to improve he will have a bright future in F1. He’s obviously got the talent, he just needs the experience.