F1 hopes are falling into place for Sargeant

Logan Sargeant admits the turnaround in his fortunes has been rapid as he finds himself chasing a Formula 1 seat as early as 2023.

The 20-year-old American was struggling for budget at the start of last season and ended up remaining in Formula 3 for a third consecutive year, finishing seventh with one victory for the unfancied Charouz team. Just as he was set to give up on the European route to F1 and test an IndyCar in November, Sargeant was signed to the Williams Driver Academy, made his F2 debut and then tested an F1 car for the first time in Abu Dhabi.

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“It’s pretty insane,” Sargeant said. “By the end of 2020, coming off what was my best season yet, we didn’t really know where to go, to be honest. We didn’t have the budget to move forward to F2, and things weren’t looking great.

“Charouz gave me a great opportunity to go at it again in F3. I think we had a good year considering what they had done the previous two, and we made a big step forward. It’s really all fallen into place for me.”

Sargeant says the turnaround was unexpected from his point of view as he wasn’t kept in the loop about of the talks that were happening with Williams before the deal was finalized.

“I actually wasn’t much to do with it, so I have to say a big thank you and shout-out to Infinity Sports Management," he said. "We were looking at IndyCar options and then at Infinity they came to me with the Williams situation, and from there it just all lined up, really.

“Things in racing normally take longer, so yeah (it was a surprise), for sure.”