US GP organiser hopes to have own driver in future: 'A game-changer'

Logan Sargeant will make his FP1 debut with Williams at the United States Grand Prix. Circuit of the Americas promoter Bobby Epstein thinks it is great news, but he thinks Formula One needs a race winner to take the sport to the next level in America.

Sargeant is impressing in his debut season in Formula 2, and the young American may also have a chance of landing a seat at Williams for 2023. The team had planned to bring in Oscar Piastri, but the Australian is likely to make an unexpected move to McLaren. This means that a seat suddenly becomes available at the British team.

According to the COTA promoter, just the participation of an American driver will not be enough to make the sport more popular in the United States. "It’s pretty fantastic, but it will be better when he’s participating on Sunday," he tells Racer.com. Epstein thinks it is great to have Haas in the sport as an American team, but a driver would be even better.

"I do think Americans will show some pride in having an American driver in F1, but I think there will be a lot of support if we have a winning driver in F1. There is a difference. I think that’s a few years off, but certainly, that would be a beautiful game-changer. That would be bigger than Netflix," the American says.