Logan Sargeant admits that the pressure was "high" in his final Formula 2 weekend as he battled to secure enough super licence points to make his F1 debut. The intention for Williams to put the American into their car for 2023 was first signalled by former team boss Jost Capito in October. However, this was on the condition that Sargeant would score the required amount of super licence points before the end of his F2 season in order to be able to compete in the top category. This meant that Sargeant had to finish no lower than sixth in the Drivers' standings after the final Formula 2 weekend in Abu Dhabi.
Sargeant: The pressure was high
As it was, Sargeant placed high enough in the Sprint race and Feature race to secure fourth in the standings, meaning that he had earned enough super licence points to join Williams on the Formula 1 grid in 2023. The 21-year-old admits that there was pressure from there being so much at stake, but he feels that he had enough time to prepare for the situation beforehand. "I think the pressure was high [going into the final Formula 2 weekend],' Sargeant told media, including RacingNews365.com . "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. "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. "The pressure sort of relieved from there, and we just executed what we needed to do."
A short amount of time to prepare
Following confirmation of his seat at Williams in 2023 – where he will replace Nicholas Latifi to race alongside Alex Albon – Sargeant was in action at the post-season test day in Abu Dhabi. He will then have some further time to prepare when pre-season testing takes place in Bahrain from 23-25 February but, with this likely to be no more than one and half days' time in the car for each driver, Sargeant admits that he does not have much practice time ahead of his race debut. "It is a very short amount of time," he explained. "But that's why I think days like [the post-season test day] need to be used very well. [They need to be] efficient, effective. "I believe we did that, which is obviously a massive positive. It is what it is, you've just got to make the most of it and it'll be what it'll be."
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