Prospect Logan Sargeant has been on the radar ever since he signed with Williams as a development driver.
His progress in F2 amplified the attention and now the fledgling driver has earned his spot at the top table with Williams for the 2023 season.
He’ll be the first American to take part in an F1 race since Alexander Rossi in 2015, and he’s on pace to become the first American to race an entire F1 calendar since Scott Speed in 2006. If he ever records a race win, he’d be the first American to do so since 1978.
But before Sargeant gets to all of that, Dailymail.com looks at how he got here, how he’s raced, and what Americans might expect in his first season in the big time.
Logan Sargeant could become the first American in 17 years to race a full Formula 1 season
Logan Sargeant was born on New Year’s Eve in 2000 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He’s the younger brother of former NASCAR Truck Series driver Dalton Sargeant and the nephew of energy and shipping magnate Harry Sargeant III.
In an interview published on the Formula Two website, Sargeant said that both of his parents were encouraging during his racing career, especially his father.
‘Both my parents have always been very supportive of me racing. I feel like he’s always had my back no matter the situation,’ he said.
‘He’s a good and smart man, someone to look up to and he’s a great dad too.’
Sargeant began racing at a young age and credits his parents in helping him during his career
Sargeant called his father ‘a good and smart man, someone to look up to’ who supported him
Sargeant began his motorsport endeavors around the age of seven, when he began karting. He started in championships stateside before crossing the pond in 2009.
To his total, he has won 12 different karting titles, including the 2015 CIK-FIA World Championship. In doing this, he became the first American world karting champion since Lake Speed beat a crowded field – including Ayrton Senna – for the title in 1978.
Sargeant made the jump to single-seaters in the 2016-17 season in Formula Four – taking part in the UAE championship. Sargeant finished second in that series behind South African and fellow Team Motopark driver Jonathan Aberdein and ahead of future F1 driver Oscar Piastri.
For 2017, Sargeant would try his hand at the F4 British Championship, racing with Carlin. He would take part in a few races at the Formula Renault level, but put in 30 races in F4 taking home third place in the drivers standings. This time, he was behind Piastri by just 19.5 points. During that time, he also captured his first F4 victories.
Sargeant began karting back in 2008, right around the time he was seven years old
Sargeant’s first foray into single-seater cars came during his time racing in Formula 4
The next year, Sargeant dedicated his season to the Formula Renault series. Competing with R-ace GP, the 21-year-old won three races and finished fourth behind Max Fewtrell, Christian Lundgaard, and Ye Yifei. Once again, he finished convincingly ahead of Piastri.
In 2019, Sargeant jumped back into an FIA series with a return to Carlin for the Formula Three season. In a field of 34 total drivers, Sargeant finished 19th – ahead of teammate Teppei Natori, but behind teammate Felipe Drugovich.
That season also featured a podium finish at the Macau Grand Prix and he raced alongside the likes of Robert Shwartzman, Marcus Armstrong, Jehan Daruvala, Juri Vips, Christian Lundgaard, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda.
In 2019, Sargeant made the jump up to Formula Three for a full season – racing with Carlin
For 2020, seeking a new challenge, Sargeant switched seats and joined Prema Racing – teaming up with Piastri – in Formula 3.
The season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the changing and cancellation of races at Sochi, Bahrain, and Zandvoort.
That year, Piastri got the better of Sargeant with the Australian finishing first and the American finishing third and Frenchman Theo Pourchaire in between them. Sargeant grabbed the same number of race wins as Piastri – taking home silverware at both Silverstone and Spa.
In the modified 2020 season, Sargeant raced with Prema Racing alongside Oscar Piastri
While it was expected for Sargeant to make the jump to F2 in 2021, he said he couldn’t make that transition – citing financial reasons. He went back to Formula Three with the more underpowered car of Charouz Racing. That season, he finished seventh. He was called up for three races in F2 with HWA Racelab in Jeddah, failing to finish in the points.
It was at this time that Sargeant was noticed by Williams Racing. They announced the young driver would join the Williams Driver Academy at the 2021 United States Grand Prix. At the end of the F1 season that year, he took part in post-season testing.
In 2022, he finally made the jump up to Formula Two – making a return to Carlin alongside Liam Lawson.
In his first season as a Williams Academy driver, Sargeant won two feature races in Formula 2
By the time the F1 US Grand Prix had rolled around in October, Sargeant was in the top three in the F2 standings having won the feature races at Silverstone and at the Red Bull Ring.
That weekend, then-Williams team boss Jost Capito announced Sargeant would be given a drive for the team in the 2023 Formula One season on the condition that he accrued enough super license points.
Sargeant ended the season fourth in the F2 standings (with Lawson finishing ahead of him by one point), and earned enough SL points for the seat.
It was confirmed in late November Sargeant would be racing alongside Alexander Albon in the Williams – racing with the No. 2, a number not seen in F1 since Stoffel Vandoorne in 2018.
It was announced at Austin that Sargeant could race for Williams if he got his super license
After finishing fourth in the drivers standings in Formula 2, Williams confirmed Sargeant’s seat
So, what should Americans expect out of Sargeant in his first Formula One season? It might be worth comparing him to the man he’s replacing to get a decent idea of a baseline expectation.
In his first full season in Formula Two (then GP2), Nicholas Latifi bagged a single podium and finished 16th out of 26 drivers. Prior to that, he had one season in Italian Formula Three and two full seasons worth of experience in FIA Formula Three races.
That’s roughly the same amount of time Sargeant had in the series before his jump to F2. But in his first full F2 season, the new Williams man bagged two feature race wins, a feature race podium, and a sprint race podium.
It’s hard to say if Sargeant will immediately do better than Latifi, but it’s worth noting that Latifi’s best season in F2 was his fourth full season in that division.
Sargeant has had some testing in F1 car in the past, so he’s not unaware of its speed and power
It also will depend on the car Sargeant will be driving – especially considering the turmoil that’s gripped Williams these past few years.
Since 2020, there have been multiple changes to Williams’ ownership and development leadership after the sale of the team.
A further wrench was thrown into development when Jost Capito announced he would be stepping down as team principal.
In each of the last three seasons, Williams have finished in the bottom three in the constructors’ championship – including two seasons where they finished last.
A wrench was thrown into Williams’ 2023 development when Jost Capito stepped down
It’s hard to see any major improvements coming next year, especially considering the team managed eleven points finishes and one podium in the last three seasons totaling 61 Grands Prix.
So what’s left is how Sargeant will drive the car. The car of Alex Albon scored five podium finishes last season – including the ninth-placed finish Nyck de Vries captured at Monza – so if the two cars are equal, maybe a driver like Sargeant could stick it into the points.
Expecting Sargeant to break the record of four wins in a rookie season that was set by Lewis Hamilton with McLaren in 2007 will likely be a fruitless exercise.
For now, expect Sargeant to use this season to set a baseline for any future success.
Fans shouldn’t expect much, but maybe Sargeant could surprise us all this upcoming F1 season
