Nicholas Latifi was tipped to fill the shoes of George Russell in 2022, as the Canadian had seemed to come on leaps and bounds the year prior while working with the Brit.
As it turned out, Latifi was almost immediately pushed into the shadow of new Williams signing Alex Albon, leaving the team no choice but to look for a replacement for the Canadian for 2023.
The team confirmed that F2 driver Logan Sargeant would race for the team next season in November, but there was a catch, the American did not have enough points on his super licence to be able to race in Formula 1.
Point can be earned by completing FP1 session at Formula 1 race weekends, which Sargeant did multiple times towards the latter end of the season, any by competing in Formula 2.
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Going into the F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi, the 21-year-old knew that he would have to finish sixth or higher in the championship standing if he wanted to stand any chance of driving in F1 next season.
“I think the pressure was high, but I think the benefit was knowing early what the situation was, so it gave me time to come to terms with it and appreciate what was on the line.”
Sargeant finished fourth in the championship following an impressive sprint race performance in Abu Dhabi, and has explained that his mindset played a big part in reducing the pressure on him.
“For some reason, when I arrived at the track on Thursday, I felt like I was in a really good place mentally, and I just felt like we were going to have a great weekend,” said the American.
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“The pressure sort of relieved from there, and we just executed what we needed to do.”
Sargeant will be joined on the grid by two other rookies in 2023, in the form of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries, who drove for Williams in Monza whilst Alex Albon was unwell.
Williams will be hoping that their new driver and handle pressure like in Abu Dhabi on a regular basis, as Sargeant’s performances will be key to the team’s potential return to becoming regular point scorers.