Williams’ Logan Sargeant thinks F1 ‘could be better’ with just one simple change

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Logan Sargeant feels Formula 1 ‘could be better’ if the sport offered extra pre-season tests for rookie drivers following a ‘tough’ debut season playing catch-up for Williams.

The 22-year-old admits that his first F1 season has been far from clear sailing after stepping up from Formula 2. Williams paired Sargeant with Alex Albon after only driving one full year in the feeder series. He replaced Nicholas Latifi after three years with the Grove-based squad.

Sargeant showed a lot of promise in his rookie F2 campaign to finish fourth in the standings as a Williams-backed driver. He joined the Formula 1 team’s driver academy in October 2021 in his second season in Formula 3. He finished third in 2020 but lacked a budget to progress.

Logan Sargeant has endured a ‘tough’ rookie Formula 1 season

A move into Formula 2 showed why Williams backed Sargeant as he scored points on debut with Carlin in Bahrain. His first podium followed in the fourth round in Spain before securing a first win in Britain. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native won another feature race in Austria.

But results have not been as forthcoming in Formula 1 with Sargeant claiming his best result of P11 in Britain. He finished only four seconds outside of the points at Silverstone following a late safety car intervention. But Albon finished in P8 to get his third points finish of the year.

Albon has claimed further points in the Netherlands and Italy following his points in Bahrain and Canada, as well. Sargeant came close to taking his first points in Formula 1 at the Dutch GP. But after reaching Q3 for the first time in his fledgling career, he crashed out of the race.

Sargeant suffered a hydraulics failure after striking a kerb, which sent the American crashing into the barriers. But it was also his second crash of the weekend after ending his qualifying in the barriers. He dipped a wheel off-line by millimetres and lost control on the entry to T2.

The Williams driver thinks extra pre-season tests would be huge

Sargeant believes part of the reason why he has endured a ‘tough’ rookie season at Williams is the lack of pre-season tests in F1. The sport only allowed for one three-day test in Bahrain in February before the season-opening race plus last December’s end-of-season rookie test.

Formula 1 also started forcing teams to run a rookie driver in two first free practice sessions in 2022. But Sargeant feels extra test sessions would give rookie drivers a far greater feeling for their new F1 machinery having had to play catch-up for Williams through most of 2023.

“You really get two-and-a-half days in the car before you go for it and only a day-and-a-half in the new car,” Sargeant told RaceFans. “So, for sure, it’s tough.

“I feel like there’s been times where I’ve been, I guess, catching up on missed experience, for sure. I only got a few test days in the off-season before coming into it. So, I definitely lacked quite a lot of kilometres compared to some others who have come in.

“But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to get in and handle it, I guess, because once you’re here, you can’t really think about what you’ve missed.

“I think it could be better if there was more testing, especially for rookies. I think it would make quite a significant difference, to be honest.”