The on-form F1 protege carrying America's hopes on his shoulders

Logan Sargeant’s single-seater career looked like it was over at the end of 2020. Lacking the budget to stay with Prema Racing for a third season at FIA Formula 3 level after coming close to that year's title or the huge financial backing necessary to move up to F2, the American had resigned himself to a move to sportscars.

But Charouz Racing System needed a driver for its F3 team for 2021 – admittedly a downgrade, going from the 2020 champions to the team who finished last – and Sargeant grabbed it with both hands. He went on to finish seventh in the standings with a win and three further podiums, comfortably the best-performing Charouz driver as his team-mates chopped and changed during the year.

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It was this performance which earned him the much-coveted move to F2 he had so wanted when his financial struggles halted his progress. And for the newly-minted Williams F1 team junior, it came with the added bonus of a return to familiar surroundings at Carlin. Sargeant had made his F3 debut with the team in 2019 and finished third with the same outfit in British F4 two years earlier.

Though he had a disappointing start to the 2022 season, running outside the top 10 in the standings after three rounds, he has had an astonishing run of form since Barcelona and now sits second in the championship, 39 points adrift of Felipe Drugovich. Victory at Silverstone made him the first US winner in F2 (or its predecessor GP2) since 2015 when Alexander Rossi took the top spot in Sochi.

Sargeant admits the season has been less straightforward than he might have liked, but is in a “nice rhythm” now as the championship heads into its second half.

“I'd say the season as a whole has been a little bit more up and down than I would have liked, quite a few rookie errors I had to iron out throughout the first half of this season,” he told Autosport in Austria prior to claiming a second consecutive feature race victory after a series of penalties for the drivers finishing in the top three spots on the road.

A bizarre set of circumstances resulted in Sargeant behind promoted from fourth on the road to victory at the Red Bull Ring

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“I'm definitely now feeling much more comfortable and confident in the car, that's for sure. The [Silverstone] win was just sort of all of that coming together, plus Silverstone being my favourite track. Just really happy with it and put a great weekend together.

“I knew going into the weekend that me and Silverstone get along extremely well. Initially, I just wanted to get into a nice rhythm and see where we were, and from lap one we were pretty quick.”

Having converted pole into his first F2 win at the British circuit by 1.68s over Theo Pourchaire, his second in Austria came in somewhat different circumstances after a wet-dry race in which he'd started on the wrong tyres.

"[Williams is] really pushing me in the right direction, I think it's been a huge benefit so far" Logan Sargeant

Recovering well to cross the line fourth, he was promoted to the top spot after on-track winner Richard Verschoor was disqualified for not having enough fuel left in his tank, second-place finisher Roberto Merhi was handed a five-second track limits penalty and Jehan Daruvala was docked 20 seconds for his team drying his grid slot. Once the reshuffle was complete, Sargeant ended up victorious ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi - his team-mate for the first four rounds of 2021 - with Merhi in third despite his penalty.

Though Sargeant said it was “not the way I like to pick up a race win,” the points haul has made him Drugovich's closest championship challenger – something he did not expect in his rookie season. Speaking while still third in the standings, prior to jumping Pourchaire for second, he said: “If you told me at the start of the year that this is where I'd be at the halfway point, I definitely would have taken that.

“Especially coming off of a pole and a win [at Silverstone], it just shows we're getting stronger and stronger. I'd say at the at the halfway point, I need to be happy with what we've done and the way we progressed.”

The Silverstone win not only boosted Sargeant’s confidence, but that of his team. Carlin has traditionally been strong in F2, taking the teams’ title in 2018 courtesy of Lando Norris and Sergio Sette Camara, and finishing in the top three for the past two years with Yuki Tsunoda, Dan Ticktum and Jehan Daruvala claiming wins.

Winning from pole at Silverstone made Sargeant the first American to claim an F2/GP2 victory since 2015

Photo by: Williams

Sargeant’s team-mate Liam Lawson, currently 10th in the standings after Austria, gave Carlin a double podium in the Silverstone feature race where the Kiwi claimed third. That result, Sargeant says, was a “big boost” for the team as the pair “just haven't quite been there at all times between the two of us.”

He adds: “For the team, it was obviously an amazing day. Our goal is just to keep scoring as many points as we can for the team. I personally know we have a really good car underneath us, they've given us a great car for the first eight rounds, and I don't see that stopping.

“So it's a great group of guys to work with, everyone wants to win, and we're gonna keep working on that.”

Sargeant has a good working relationship with the Red Bull junior, and says he has learned a great deal from having “such a quick second year driver as my team-mate. Those rookie errors I've been able to iron out because I've been able to compare it to him”.

Another stroke of good fortune came for Sargeant in the form of his Williams deal, announced at last year's United States Grand Prix in Austin, which precluded a first run in an F1 car at the post-season Abu Dhabi rookie test. The extremely tight F2 calendar makes it hard for Sargeant to do much work with the Grove-based outfit, but he says the team are “fitting in whatever we can” and are “super supportive”.

“They’re really pushing me in the right direction, I think it's been a huge benefit so far,” he says.

As the only American in F2, he is optimistic about F1’s “pretty awesome” boom in popularity in his home country, which has prompted the arrival of Las Vegas onto the calendar next year to join COTA and this year's new Miami Grand Prix.

Sargeant had his first F1 experience with Williams in last year's Abu Dhabi rookie test

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

As a Floridian, who grew up 20 minutes down the road in Fort Lauderdale, he's naturally enthusiastic about the addition of the Miami International Autodrome around the Hard Rock Stadium.

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“That's like a true home grand prix, so that's obviously amazing,” he said. “I think the three locations that the US grands prix are at are all really cool, and they're just gonna keep getting bigger. Eventually they’ll be three of the biggest grands prix of the year.”

"If you qualify at the front, it makes life a lot easier, and then it’s just doing your job and the results will come if you do that" Logan Sargeant

With a strong run of form behind him in a championship where consistency is key, Sargeant knows he needs to maintain his current performance to be in with a shot at the title. But he acknowledges it isn’t that simple.

“It's never easy in this category, the field is so competitive,” he says. “As I mentioned before, it's fine margins. I'm just looking to drive the best I can. If you qualify at the front, it makes life a lot easier, and then it’s just doing your job and the results will come if you do that.”

If his performance over the past few rounds is anything to go by, scoring 77 points since Monaco, Sargeant could be far more of a title threat than thought back in May when Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire were a cut above the rest. Could the plucky Floridian be his home country’s best shot at getting an American into F1 and, once again, emulate Rossi? With the sort of results he’s managed recently, he could well be.

Sargeant now sits second in the F2 points standings after winning the past two feature races at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring

Photo by: Williams