The hardships that haven’t dented an F2 rookie’s American F1 dream

“Out of adversity comes opportunity,” Benjamin Franklin once said. And that seems to have been precisely the case for Logan Sargeant, having fought his way through budget struggles and a year with a midfield team to secure a Formula 2 seat for 2022.

Long since tipped as the United States’ best Formula 1 hopeful, Sargeant looked set for big things at the beginning of 2020. Moving from Carlin’s FIA Formula 3 team to reigning champions Prema, he took two wins and six podiums throughout the season. Level on points with team-mate and eventual champion Oscar Piastri heading into the final race of the season at Mugello, an opening lap clash left him to finish third behind the now-Alpine F1 reserve and Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire.

Despite having enjoyed what he describes as his “best season yet”, Sargeant found himself with no funds to continue at the Italian outfit for another F3 title tilt in 2021 and wasn't able to progress to F2 either. Left with “no options,” the Floridian 21-year-old faced the prospect that his racing career may have come to a premature end.

His saving grace came from an unlikely source in the form of Charouz Racing System, the Czech outfit signing Sargeant and Enzo Fittipaldi just days before the first round at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. It had finished last in the teams’ standings in 2020, but Sargeant’s experience proved invaluable. Charouz was elevated to fifth in 2021, it's tally of 127 points a 25-fold increase on the five it mustered the previous season. It was the team's strongest ever campaign in the series and culminated in a first F3 win in the first Sochi sprint race, Sargeant snatching the lead from polesitter Victor Martins at the start.

A seventh-place finish in the drivers’ standings, with three further podiums, was enough to secure Sargeant a much-coveted and long sought-after F2 seat for this season. He will return to Carlin, having previously driven for the team in British F4 and in his 2019 rookie F3 season. He also became the newest member of Williams F1 team’s Junior Academy in October, taking part in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi for his first taste of top-tier machinery.

“We had a good year, they definitely wanted to move forward, which I think we did a good job of, we definitely improved the car throughout the year,” Sargeant tells Autosport. “I feel like at the start of the year, we weren’t super close to winning a race and we did at the end of the year.

Sargeant scored the unfancied Charouz F3 team's first win in Sochi and helped it to finish fifth in the teams' standings

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“We definitely took steps forward, and I think my experience definitely helped. I just felt like we were just getting stronger and stronger throughout the whole year.

“My goal, especially [in 2021], was just to go out and maximise every event. At times I did that and at times, I didn't quite do as well as I could have. But I felt like later in the season, not only did we improve the car, but I feel like that second half of the year I really picked up all the pieces that were there. I was really happy with the latter half of the season, and I don't feel like I could have done much more than that.”

Reflecting on a past 12 months in which his fortunes have turned around, Sargeant says with some understatement that it “was a good year in the end” after the struggles he had encountered heading into the 2021 season.

"The way the whole 12 months has gone has really changed me as a person and a driver. At this point, I realise that I'm lucky to even still be here doing what I love" Logan Sargeant

“Going into it, it was probably one of the toughest moments of my career,” he says. “Obviously, very uncertain of what the year was gonna hold for me, but I think we grabbed everything we could, and we did the most with what we had. 

“It definitely wasn't easy at the start. I remember coming out of 2020, which was arguably my best season yet, I really had no options. I didn't have the budget to move up to Formula 2, I didn't have the budget to go back to F3 and go for the title. So we really just took what came in our direction. And [Charouz] was really the saving grace of the year, to be honest. I'm really grateful for that opportunity.”

While he had secured an F3 seat for 2021, Sargeant was still unsure of what his racing future might hold beyond that. His Infinity Sports Management team helped him into a part-time LMP2 drive in the European Le Mans Series with TF Sport, Sargeant taking a remarkable pole and finishing fourth on his sportscar debut at the Red Bull Ring.

That preceded his GT bow in the ELMS-supporting Michelin Le Mans Cup for the Iron Lynx Ferrari team. Second in his first race at Paul Ricard, missing out on victory by just eight tenths, he took a satisfying win in the GT3 class at Le Mans. He says he “really enjoyed” his experience and doesn't ruling out racing sportscars in years to come.

Sargeant took pole on his first-ever sportscar outing, driving the TF Sport ORECA at the Red Bull Ring in the ELMS

Photo by: ELMS

But that won’t be the case in 2022 as he at least gets chance to move up the feeder series pyramid, while joining the Williams junior programme can only boost his F1 dreams. Joining the Academy, he says, has “made a massive difference for my career” and meant his year culminated in logging 92 laps of the Yas Marina Circuit aboard Williams' 2021-spec FW43B.

“I was pretty mind blown, to be honest,” he says. “I obviously expected a big step from the F2 car, but it was something special. The amount of grip, downforce, power, braking, performance there - just to me it felt out of this world.

“I enjoyed it so much and feel like through the day I progressed a lot. I really started to get comfortable with the car at the end of the day. I was super happy with the way it went.”

While for now his role with the Grove-based team will consist of simulator work and race support, Sargeant is hopeful for another chance behind the wheel, but insists his priorities for this year lie with F2. With a hugely transformative year behind him, how does Sargeant reflect on the whirlwind which set him back on the track to the top?

“I think the way the whole 12 months has gone has really changed me as a person and a driver,” he says. “At this point, I realise that I'm lucky to even still be here doing what I love. As you know, that looked like it was quickly fading. So for me, it's drastically changed my mindset. Now I can just really enjoy it, I can just give it give it everything I have. Anything I get from here is just a bonus.

“Carlin's obviously extremely strong in Formula 2, it’s a great opportunity to go out and do a good job and hopefully put myself in a position to move into Formula 1 in the next couple years to come.”

With another US race added to the F1 calendar this year in Miami, and with the country proving a hugely expanding market for the series, it’s about time the grid saw its first American talent since Alexander Rossi’s five-race stint at Marussia in 2015. And with the turn in Sargeant’s fortunes, he could be its best hope.

Sargeant steps up to F2 with Carlin in 2022

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd