Background
In a European-dominant sport like Formula 1, Logan Sargeant gave American fans the representation they lacked for 16 years. His journey to the pinnacle of motorsport began the same as any other F1 driver, karting at eight years old. Sargeant spent 15 years behind the wheel, competing in the Karting Federation Junior Championship, Formula 4, Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 and Formula 2. At the end of the 2023 season, he made his official F1 debut with Williams Racing.
Sargeant’s career had a promising start. He found success competing in national and regional karting championships in the U.S. Due to his success, Sargeant had to leave his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and move to Europe to compete at a higher level. In 2015, Sargeant won the CIK-FIA World KFJ Championship, making him the first American to be awarded the champion title since 1978. The following year, Sargeant made his Formula 4 debut. Although he didn’t win any races in 2016, Sargeant stood on the podium for 15 out of the 18 races and ranked second at the end of the season. In 2017, Sargeant competed in the F4 British Championship. There, he achieved 10 podium standings in 30 races, including two race wins. Sargeant finished third in the standings that year behind his closest competitor, Oscar Piastri.
In 2018, Sargeant entered a different racing category, Formula Renault Eurocup. His entrance was memorable, winning both the season-opening and the season-finale races. Sargeant finished fourth in the standings, making him the second-highest-placed rookie that season.
Sargeant continued up the Formula 1 ladder, joining Formula 3 in 2019. In his first year, Sargeant scored points in four different races and had a best finish of third. He bagged five points at the end of the season and finished 19th overall. The 2020 season saw Sargeant join the well-known Prema Racing alongside old rival Oscar Piastri. Sargeant was victorious, taking multiple podium finishes and three consecutive pole positions. He also won his first race in the category, which promoted him to first in the overall standings, leading the championship. Sargeant’s reign didn’t last, however. Collisions with fellow drivers left him out of points for two races and a grid penalty for the final round of the season. Sargeant was tied with Piastri in the standings going into the final race, but ultimately, Piastri went on to claim the title as Sargeant suffered yet another collision.
2021 kicked off with uncertainty for Sargeant. Due to the expensive nature of motorsport (especially the Formula categories), Sargeant was initially unable to advance to Formula 2. Instead, he competed in F3 for a second season with Charouz Racing System. He finished seventh in the standings, with three podiums and one race win.
In December 2021, Williams entered the conversation. After receiving financial backing from the team, Sargeant debuted in Formula 2. In the first race, he qualified fourth and scored points in the sprint and feature races. At the next race, a crash during qualifying placed Sargeant in 18th, and he failed to score points the following Sunday. He faced a similar trajectory for the rest of the season, achieving two pole positions, two wins (one due to driver disqualification and time penalties) and four podiums. Yet, multiple retirements dropped his standing in the championship from second to fourth.
Formula 1 career
Sargeant practice debuted with Williams at the 2022 United States Grand Prix. He was the first American driver to participate in a weekend session since Alexander Rossi in 2015. It was also stated then that Sargeant would drive with Williams the following year, provided he obtained the FIA Super License at the end of his F2 career.
The 2023 season started off strong for Sargeant. He qualified 16th at the Bahrain International Circuit, setting the same lap time as McLaren’s Lando Norris. Sargeant ultimately finished the race 12th, only two places behind his more experienced teammate, Alex Albon. Although he didn’t qualify for the next session, it was still a very successful debut for Sargeant.
His next few races proved to be more challenging. He placed 16th again at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and retired from the Australian Grand Prix after a collision with Nyck de Vries, classifying 16th again. Sargeant finally managed to reach Q2 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix but ended up crashing later on. He reached Q2 again in his next race at the Austrian Grand Prix, classifying five positions above his starting position, 18th, to place 13th. Sargeant’s next few races didn’t look much better, as his highest finish was 11th place. He made it into Q3 for the first time at the Dutch Grand Prix but crashed during the actual race. Due to these performances, Sargeant didn’t manage to score a single point for Williams during his first 17 races.
However, Sargeant found his first success on home soil at the United States Grand Prix. He started 16th but managed to finish 12th. Luck was on his side as both drivers above him, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, were disqualified, promoting him to 10th. Here, Sargeant scored his only point in F1 and became the first American to score a point since 1993.
Though he often failed to score points, Sargeant’s lap times were fast enough for Williams to sign him again at the end of 2023 for the 2024 season. However, he wasn’t met with any success in the first half of 2024, never finishing high enough to score any points. A day after he finished 19th at the Belgian Grand Prix, it was announced that he would be replaced next season by Carlos Sainz Jr.
Unfortunately, his time with Williams would end before the season did. Sargeant had not delivered enough performance for Williams during the majority of his time with the team. It was no secret that his frequent crashes were only worsening the team’s financial struggles. His crash during the first free practice in Zandvoort, which forced him to miss qualifying as his car couldn’t be repaired in time, was ultimately the last straw for team principal James Vowles. Two days after this race, Williams released Sargeant from the team.
Our thoughts
For just about every F1 fan, Logan Sargeant was the joke of the grid. Ironically, he was given the title “GOAT” for his dedication to the bottom ranks of the backmarker teams. Sargeant’s career can be summed up in one word: unlucky. Categorized by crashes, penalties and too early of an entrance into F1, he was set to fail. This combined with Williams’ notoriety for hiring subpar drivers and then firing them mid-season left his career to end on a sour note. However, despite all of this, replacing Sargeant mid-season is risky.
To make matters worse, Williams made the decision to replace Sargeant with a rookie, Franco Colapinto. The promotion is prone to put a lot of pressure on Colapinto since he was previously racing in F2. Although he performed very well in F2, the competitive atmosphere was completely different in F1. Furthermore, Sargeant’s performance was impressive in his F2 career, but we can see his career in F1 turned out to be the opposite. Was replacing Sargeant with Colapinto the right decision, or will history repeat itself?
The social media PR around the announcement of Sargeant’s replacement was poorly handled. Williams announced Colapinto joining the team before they posted a parting message for Sargeant, which is disrespectful since he had been with the team for the past two years. The two short sentences written on Sargeant’s post also feel insincere, considering he had been a part of the Williams family for so long. Comments under the posts reflect this, with many people upset about the news of Sargeant’s replacement and how the situation was handled.
What’s next for Williams and Logan Sargeant?
Since the announcement of his departure from Williams next season, there have been rumors that Sargeant will move to IndyCar. This is a probable transition as the series is similar to F1, and Sargeant won’t be the first driver to make the change. At the end of 2020, Haas driver Romain Grosjean faced the same fate as Sargeant. Grosjean’s contract was not renewed for the following year, and he decided to compete in IndyCar for the 2021 season. Fans are awaiting news as Sargeant has not yet issued a public statement on the matter.
As for Williams, the team promoted their academy F2 driver, Franco Colapinto, to take Sargeant’s seat. Colapinto has less experience than Sargeant, having only driven in one F1 practice session before being hired full-time. Furthermore, there are tracks on the calendar that F2 and F1 do not share. This means that Colapinto will have a higher risk of crashing at some tracks. Though he has fared well under the pressure so far, the season is headed towards tracks that are both physically and mentally straining. Only time will tell if Williams made the right decision, but the fact is that they are out of contention for both the World Drivers’ Championship and the World Constructors’ Championship. If there’s a good time to take risks, it’s now. The team can salvage what they can from this season and look ahead to a promising driver pairing in 2025.
