F1 rookie Logan Sargeant opens up about a dark time in his career - "It was dead at that point"

Logan Sargeant will make his F1 debut with Williams next month following an excellent rookie season in Formula 2, where he finished fourth in the championship. Sargeant thought his dream of racing in Formula One was "gone" when he returned to Formula 3 for a third year in the category two seasons ago.

The young driver nearly won the FIA F3 title with Prema in 2020. After being involved in an accident in the penultimate race, he lost to teammate Oscar Piastri by barely three points in the final round.

Logan Sargeant returned to F3 with Charouz Racing in 2021, but he was not a championship contender, winning only one race and finishing ninth in the standings. He competed in endurance races in the European Le Mans Series and the Le Mans Cup, and he acknowledges that he did not think he would ever make it to Formula 1.

“I was 100% sure it was dead at that point, to be honest.”

The American driver was talking to the media 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 will drive the FW45 on Monday during a filming day at Silverstone, where he will share a 100km lap running time with teammate Alex Albon.

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Logan Sargeant becomes the first American Formula One Driver

Logan Sargeant is set to become the first American Formula One driver in nearly eight years. F1 has always had a huge fanbase in the US, even though there was no one to represent the nation. This is about to change in 2023.

The 22-year-old accumulated enough Super License points this past weekend to earn a promotion to Formula 1 with Williams Racing. After the final round of the F2 season in Abu Dhabi, he finished sixth in the final sprint race, fifth in the final feature race, and fourth in the 2022 season standings. This earned him the requisite points to win his super licence.

Logan Sargeant is already familiar with the Williams F1 car. He had driven in practice sessions for the team at the US and Mexican Grands Prix, as well as in Abu Dhabi during testing last year.