Williams 2023 lineup confirmed?? Who is Logan Sargeant and why has he got the paddock talking?
Logan Sargeant is a 21 year old Formula 2 driver from Florida, USA. He became part of the Williams Driver Academy in October 2021 and has joined the Williams Racing Formula One team in the garage during many races this season. In the past few years, Sargeant has competed in FIA Formula 3 with Carlin, Prema and Charouz; FIA Formula 2 with Charouz as a guest in Jeddah 2021 and full time with Carlin in 2022, alongside drives in the European Le Mans series and the Le Mans Cup GT3 during the 2021 season. In 2022, he collected two feature race wins at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring, making him the first American to win in F2 as well as two pole positions and two additional trips to the podium placing 2nd and 3rd.
During the press conference of the United States Formula One Grand Prix, Williams Racing Team Principal Jost Capito revealed their plan to have American F2 driver and Williams Academy member, Logan Sargeant in their vacant seat for 2023. Currently this plan is reliant on Sargeant securing the necessary amount of Super License points by the end of his season in F2 or the team will have to look for another replacement.
Naturally the F1 rumour mill has been in full operation since Williams and Nicholas Latifi announced they would part ways at the end of the 2022 season. Many believed that the two options for the seat were 2019 F2 Champion Nyck De Vries and current F2 driver Logan Sargaent. However, after his super sub debut in Monza, De Vries was snapped up by Alpha Tauri leaving Sargeant in line for the seat. Many of the other outgoing F2 drivers including newly crowned champion Felipe Drugovich are without an F1 seat going forward, so it has come as a surprise that Sargeant, with only the current F2 season and three races from the previous season under his belt, has come out with a full time drive in the top flight of single seaters. Now all that needs to fall into place is Sargeant’s Super License…
After a 3rd in the 2020 F3 Championship and a 7th in the 2021 F3 Championship, Sargeant appears to have collated 27 super license points. As we have been made *very* aware this year as the whole Colton Herta fiasco, you need 40 super license points alongside a number of other criteria to classify for a license. Points are gained based on the finishing positions of a driver in their specific championship, in this case FIA F2 who offer points down to P10 in the championship. Points are also available for completing over 100km in an F1 FP1 session, as of writing this (Mexican Grand Prix weekend) Sargeant has completed 2 Free Practice 1 sessions, clocking 22 laps at both the US GP and Mexican GP, tipping him over the 100km mark in the US and just under in Mexico. Unfortunately, this means he was only able to pick up 1 bonus point. Williams Racing also announced that he will take part in one more Free Practice 1 session in Abu Dhabi which could bring his total Super License points up to 29, leaving less pressure on the final F2 round.
This season, the F2 grid is packed with talent, although Drugovich has run away with the title with 1 round to go, the battle for 3rd is still very much on. Only 12 points separate Carlin teammates Sargeant in 3rd and Liam Lawson in 7th, meaning the final round in Abu Dhabi will be crucial for many drivers. Based on the assumption that Sargeant gains the one remaining bonus point from Abu Dhabi, he would need to finish 5th or above in the F2 Championship or 6th with two bonus points for not gaining any penalty points throughout the season.
Although Williams Racing has fallen down the order in terms of the Constructors Championship, we have seen promise from the cars and the team. With a rich history in F1, the Williams family and team have produced multiple champions in the 80s and 90s. More recently, they have become a great stepping stone into the top teams with drivers such as Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and Nico Rosberg. Based on some of his drives in his junior career, it’s looking likely that Logan Sargeant will follow in similar footsteps.
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