Williams rookie Logan Sargeant has incredibly revealed that he was “100% sure” that his dream of making it to Formula 1 “was dead”, with the American having accepted that he was likely going to end up following a different motorsport route.
Following a different motorsport path, though, certainly isn’t something Sargeant is going to be doing just yet, with Williams having promoted him for the forthcoming season.
The Williams Driver Academy member managed to earn enough Super Licence points in 2022 to allow Williams to replace Nicholas Latifi with him, thanks to finishing fourth in Formula 2 and several FP1 appearances.
By making the step to F1, Sargeant will become the first American F1 driver since Alexander Rossi in 2015, something which will likely go down very well with American supporters.
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Sargeant’s career has turned around dramatically, with the American having been unable to move to F2 in 2021 due to funding issues.
He did eventually move to F2 in 2022 after joining the Williams Academy; however, it was the period before that where he felt like his career wasn’t going to take him to the pinnacle of motorsport.
“I was 100% sure it was dead at that point, to be honest,” Sargeant told Motorsport.com.
“At that point, I just thought I was going to be heading towards the LMP or IndyCar route, which at the time I was content with.
“It was just my reality at the time. That’s where I felt like were my only two places that I could still turn to.
“The F3 seat was just simply just to pass some time and stay in a car, and help a team move forward and a different position for myself, let’s say.
“The LMP2 races, the GT races, it’s just again, a bit of fun, get a bit of experience in endurance and sports car racing.
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“To be honest, I feel like it in the end was all extremely beneficial and helped me massively. So I’m glad I did it all.”
Sargeant will likely take some time to get fully adjusted to Williams’ 2023 car, with pre-season testing this year to be conducted over just three days, rather than six like last season.
This is something that’ll likely result in all of the rookies suffering, given how little time they’ll have to understand their new cockpit.