Logan Sargeant is already proving himself: star status in the US beckons

With Logan Sargeant, Williams chose a surprising teammate for Alexander Albon. The American was never known as a huge talent, and in the junior series, he never won a title (far from it). Nevertheless, Sargeant has proven to be an asset during his first weeks in Formula 1.

What would Colton Herta be thinking? In fact, it should have been this American who was the first to make a journey into F1 again. The story is well known: The IndyCar driver was supposed to make the move to AlphaTauri, but he had not accumulated enough points for a Super Licence. Nyck de Vries - seen by Williams as the dream second man alongside Albon - stepped into AlphaTauri instead, surprisingly allowing Sargeant to move on from the Williams Driver Academy to Formula 1.

His place earned

There have only been three races, but Sargeant has already proved he deserves his place in Formula 1. Perhaps some had doubts about that beforehand, as the American comes from a wealthy family. His uncle, Harry Sargeant III, is a billionaire who runs airlines and oil companies. Uncle Harry is reportedly even friends with fellow billionaire Donald Trump. But no, Sargeant III did not buy his nephew a seat in F1. Logan did it all by himself, with any luck then.

Comparing drivers with each other is always arbitrary; there is a difference in the quality of the cars they drive, and (wrong) tactics greatly affect the outcome of a race. Nevertheless, out of the three rookies in F1 this season, Sargeant is certainly not the worst. His results include a strongly run Grand Prix in Bahrain, where Sargeant in the modest Williams left behind Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg (both Haas F1) and Lando Norris(McLaren), among others. A day earlier, the American had finished his first F1 qualifying 16th on the grid, even ahead of Pierre Gasly with his Alpine (although everyone was faster than the Frenchman that night).

What could be better?

Of course, there are areas for improvement. Every driver has areas that require attention. For example, at the Australian Grand Prix, a poor second restart meant the American crashed into the back of the helpless De Vries, throwing his race away.

Sargeant's approach to qualifying has also not proved perfect everywhere, with things going wrong in Q1 in Saudi Arabia. Sargeant first saw his time taken away, going too far off track during his first flying lap. He then wasted his second run with a spin, and during the third attempt, his Williams stalled. There was nothing Sargeant could do about the latter, but at least at that point, he could have clocked a decent time with one of his previous laps. Now it took the understanding of the race committee to be allowed to race on Sunday.

Sargeant must seek the limit

Some of his racing has been unnecessary but, at the same time, extremely instructive. As a newcomer to Formula 1, Sargeant still has to learn where the margins are; when do you drive on the limit? When do you go just over it? You only learn by trying. So no one blames him for a spin, although ultimately, it should not happen too often. Only by maintaining constant progression will Sargeant succeed in warming the hearts of American racing fans. Given the huge F1 hype in the country, with good performances, he may even reach star status pretty easily. Although the points have been lacking for now, the potential for that seems to be there.