Picture Credits Williams Racing
It has been almost two weeks since Logan Sargeant was “really pleased” with his first F1 race. The American rookie spoke with print media in Jeddah to discuss his continued learning curve; how he feels he is settling in and his regret over pushing to soon during qualifying back in Bahrain.
Logan Sargeant had impressive race pace in Bahrain and finished P12. A feat all the more impressive as he had always been up against it after qualifying P16 the previous day. The American rookie explained to media the reason for this starting grid
slot.
“I think to be honest I let myself down a little bit in qualifying but you know I think considering it’s my first one I might have had a slightly wrong approach to it. But again, it’s good to experience the bad and the good to know which direction I need to move in and take into further qualifyings because the pace was definitely there. We had more speed in the car than I was able to get out of it on last Saturday but I think in terms of race pace I really maximised the race and I felt like I was very comfortable and in a good window.” Sargeant claimed.
So, what precisely did Williams Racing’s newest driver feel he did wrong back under the lights in Bahrain?
“I just came out of the gates a little bit too strong. I wanted to sort of set the tone early and I overstepped a little bit and I didn’t really give myself a great reference for the second round. So, moving forward I need to make sure my first lap is maybe a little bit more clean within myself – to set myself up better for the second.” explained Sargeant.
Sargeant went on to explain how the reason for his urgency was that he “went into the qualifying session honestly expecting not to be able to get out of Q1.” Due to this fact, the American rookie had made a conscious decision to ‘really go for it’ as he had expected to only get two laps in. This is a learning curve though and Sargeant already knows what he would do in future if the opportunity arose. “In hindsight, that was the wrong decision. We could have comfortably went into Q2 so I think there was a few variables that added up and yes definitely less laps than F2. Normally, we would get two push per set in F2 whereas now it was one in one in Bahrain.”
Williams Racing are already on the board points wise thanks to Alex Albon’s P10 finish in Bahrain. This was the first time since 2017 that Williams scored points at the opening race of an F1 season and Sargeant is well aware of the speed his teammate has.
“He’s a great benchmark for me for sure. Extremely quick as everyone already knows but you know I’ve really enjoyed working with him. You know, I enjoy the challenge of trying to catch him and I think we are trying different things. We’re exploring different routes but that’s mainly for the learning of the team. I think we have to try these things to try and find more pace in the car and whether that’s me trying or him – it’s really just about trying to get more pace for the team as a whole. ” Sargeant stated.
“I think from a team perspective I don’t think we were quite expecting to have that level of performance so that was definitely really positive. I think from my personal side there was really no expectations. It was really just going and drive and see where that left me and give myself the baseline to move forward from. And yeah, I mean I learned a lot through the weekend not only to show myself I had the pace but got through a lot of operational stuff in terms of my first race start, pit stops, tyre management – just learned a lot really and I think it put me in a good position moving forward.”
Moving forward is exactly what Logan Sargeant expects to be doing in Jeddah but he is still having to know just how far to push his car. Although, Sargeant feels a high speed circuit is the perfect opportunity for him to exploit his strengths.
“I think one place I struggled with in Bahrain, a little bit, was just maximising the high speed. So coming here, it’s a good test for me. I think to be honest, in my opinion from you know my previous junior career I was always comfortable in high speed and it was never an issue so I feel like that’s just more knowing where the limit of the car is a little bit more just to have that extra bit of commitment and that makes a difference at high speed. So, this weekend will be a good opportunity for me to keep pushing that and exploring that a bit further…just pushing on that little bit more and having the confidence that it’s going to stick and just a bit of extra commitment.” said Sargeant.
Logan Sargeant also explained how he is settling in with the other drivers on the grid and how he feels being one of the new boys. “The only person I’ve raced in F1 now, is Oscar [Piastri] I believe. So, him and Alex and a couple of the others are really the only ones that I know on the level of having a conversation with at the moment but I think to be honest, everyone, all the drivers are very respectful and open to having a conversation.”
Williams Racing always showed they had good pace in testing and a point in Bahrain will have done the team no harm confidence wise. Now though, there is an expectation to perform on each race weekend. Should Logan Sargeant perform well in qualifying, he has shown he has the pace to challenge the midfield.
The American rookie is right to feel really pleased with his F1 debut and his fanbase is certainly growing. Sargeant’s critical evaluation of his Bahrain performance shows that he believes there are greater things heading his way sooner rather than later. There is every chance Jeddah could bring more points to Williams and there is a strong chance they could be thanking Logan Sargeant for them on Sunday evening.
