Logan Sargeant on the Miami Grand Prix, the pressure of F1, and ‘Lap of Legends’

F1 is coming back to the US.

And for one of the 20 drivers on the grid, this is a true return home.

F1 returns to the United States this weekend for Round 3, the Miami Grand Prix, the first of three races to be held in the United States. But for one driver in particular, this is a true home race. Logan Sargent, in his second season in F1, will be driving in his second Miami Grand Prix, just minutes from his hometown of Fort Lauderdale.

SB Nation We caught up with Sargent this week before heading to Miami to talk about the start of his second season, the pressures of F1 life, racing in Miami, and his favorite spots in South Beach for a quick bite.

late start to season

When Williams officially launched the 2024 F1 season and announced this year’s challengers at a live event in New York City, confidence around the team was high.

There’s a good reason for that.

Williams made an impact on the field last year in both Sargent’s rookie season and team president James Bolles’ first year. With Alexander Albon’s impressive performance, Sargent finished 10th at last season’s United States Grand Prix, becoming the first American driver to score points in an F1 race since Michael Andretti in 1993. Finish in the constructors’ championship.

The team believed they could build on that performance and maybe even move up in the standings.

There’s still plenty of season left, but it’s been a slow start for Williams. A difficult weekend in Australia as the team has yet to open its account for the 2024 campaign and Albon’s crash in practice left the team with just one car available for the Australian Grand Prix. endured. Describing it as the “hardest” decision of his career, Vowles decided to slip Albon into Sargent’s seat and flank the American driver during the race.

Our conversation started with the team’s start to the season and where the team’s overall mindset is headed heading into Miami.

“When you look at the team, I think there are areas that we all need to strive for and improve on. I think that’s the mindset, we all need to strive to do a little bit better. We’re just trying to get everything out of each other,” explained Sgt.

Everyone wants to do their part to ultimately perform at their best throughout the weekend. So we certainly know that we need to do things better. But we are not discouraged,” continued the Williams driver. “If anything, we’re just working to make things better.”

What’s the one thing that’s better for this year’s team?

their car.

Although Williams has yet to score any points this season, Sargent said the 2024 season’s challenger, the FW46, is a big improvement over last season’s FW45.

Unfortunately, this has its pitfalls.

“The car is 100 percent a huge improvement over last year,” Sargent began laughing. “I think the thing is, everyone has come a long way from last year.”

“So it’s always relative. It’s always a challenge. I think this year [it’s] In that, the bottom of the midfield, the midfield pack is closer than ever, and it’s the details that matter at the moment. Over time, we’ll include some things that will help us continue to improve and continue to spend more time. [the FW46] But some have already brought in upgrades over the past few rounds, and that’s definitely giving them a bit of a boost. ”

“We need to continue to work hard to improve ourselves,” continued Sargent. “It’s definitely going to be tough and it’s going to be close, but we need to keep working on ourselves.”

What are the main goals for Sargent and the team heading into this season?

The weekend is refreshing.

“I think there were definitely some moments that were a little difficult, but there were also a lot of positive moments. So I think we just have to try and do the best we can,” said Sargent. “I think the important thing is that overall I don’t think we’ve put together a clean weekend yet, so that’s our goal and that’s what we want to do.

“And if we can do that, I think we’ll be in a decent position.”

Race with “Legends”

Then we moved on to the next topic, “Lap of Legends.” “Rap of Legends,” put together by Williams in partnership with Michelob Ultra, will pit Sargent against former Williams legends including Mario Andretti, Damon Hill, Jenson Button and more. SB Nation We recently spoke with Button about Lap of Legends, and now it’s time to hear Sargent’s perspective.

“It was really cool,” Sargent began.

“So it’s one of the biggest projects we’ve ever done, especially in the last two years. And I think a lot of what we did was really, really great.”

For the drivers, perhaps the best part of the experience was the time they spent with Williams legends.

“So one of the best things was being able to meet some of the past legends in Williams history and talk to them and get their advice. Just having those conversations was special, It’s definitely important to have people participate in the conversation,” said Sargent. “I think that really completed the project.

“Just getting a chance to learn and talk to these guys and world champions who have raced their entire careers in F1. There are so many similarities and different challenges that we all face and how they can best address them. It was great to hear how they did their best,” continued Sgt. “How they best dealt with things throughout their career. Of course, different generations have different situations. But at the same time, we are still racing drivers and we understand each other, so we are still trying to figure out things like that. It’s really nice to be able to have a conversation.”

What is the most memorable piece of advice Sargent received?

“I think the important thing is to always believe in yourself, and I think everyone goes through this. We all realize how big this sport is from a mental standpoint. I think we talked about how we need to be mentally tough,” outlined Sgt. “I think it was good to hear the fact that we’ve all been through things like that throughout our careers and how much of a difference it made to make sure they were able to maintain that.”

One of the taglines in the promotional materials for “Rap of Legends” talks about how the project was designed to remind Sargent to “enjoy the ride.”

So I asked the young driver if that goal had been achieved.

“When you’re at the top of professional sports, the top level of competition, I think it always is, but it’s difficult. You’re giving your all, it’s intense and serious. You want to do well and There’s pressure to do whatever it is,” said Sgt. “But I think throughout the whole thing, there are definitely moments where you kind of identify where you are, ‘Oh, that was great.’ It was pretty cool to be able to do that and have that opportunity.” So sometimes we get caught up in it and we have to remind ourselves to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective. And try to enjoy how lucky you are. ”

Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

The pressures of life in F1

One of the most difficult things to do as a professional athlete is to block out the noise.

Unfortunately, life in F1 comes with a lot of noise. Not just the noise along the tracks, but the endless speculation about job security. With only 20 seats for him on the grid and hundreds of drivers competing for them, there is constant pressure to perform.

So I asked Sargent how difficult it is to block out that noise and get on with the task at hand. Especially on a week like this, when you’re racing at home, the demands on your times are even higher.

“That’s tough,” the sergeant began.

“Luckily, I was able to fly home for a few days before flying out to New York for a few days of media coverage. But it’s not just that I have Wednesday off, which is a huge deal. So I are going to spend time with family and friends, and it’s important to block out some things.”

Sargent noted that one area he may have struggled with was noise isolation as a rookie.

“I think I didn’t do my best job last year because I was worrying too much about other things than what I really needed to do. So I’m trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” said Sgt. Ta. “But of course, everything comes at a cost. That’s life.”

What came next was some life advice that anyone could use.

“I think the most important thing is to find time to spend with family and friends. If you need some time to yourself, relax for a night, watch TV, whatever, play a round of golf with friends.” I just want to do something.

“Those are the big moments that change how you feel going into the race.”

racing at hard rock

Our conversation then turned to this weekend and Sargent’s second home race. But before we talk about the race, we followed up on an earlier conversation with the Williams driver. Earlier this year, the team debuted “Team Torque,” a podcast hosted by Sargent and Albon. In the first episode, Sargent said his dream guest would be Tom Brady.

Could that happen in this week’s series?

“Not this weekend,” the sergeant replied.

But don’t worry, NFL fans. This week’s show features a football guest that Sargent teased during our conversation.

“We’ve got a special football player coming out this weekend. It’s me, my trainer, and…you’ll see in a second,” Sargent said, perfectly handling his podcast hosting teaser responsibilities.

I then asked Sargent what I needed to do while in Miami since this weekend would be my first trip to South Beach.

“Well, you’re putting pressure on me,” the sergeant began. “I mean, there’s definitely great food.” I recommend the restaurant mirror. If you don’t want to go down the food route, you’ll have to get on the water somehow. ”

If anyone from Mila is reading this, you have your next celebrity endorsement. And we’re going to be at the table Sunday night.

We then talked about the race itself and asked Sargent to guide me around Miami. The drivers then told us not only about the course itself, but also what the car needed to be successful at the Miami Grand Prix.

“I think Miami is an interesting track. It’s very unique and very different from a lot of the tracks we go to. It has very different types of sectors: slow, fast, tight and twisty, long and flowing. ” began Sargent.

“The first sector is a long, flowing, very rhythm-based sector. You want a car that’s not unpredictable and follows the bumps, a car that you can really build on. Whereas if you look at sector two, it’s narrow and It’s curvy, so you need a car that’s sharp, changes direction quickly, and has good traction.

“So those two styles are a little bit at odds with each other.

“So not only are we always trying to find the best way to use the tools; [get] You want your car setup to be as balanced as possible for these different styles of corners. But overall it was a really fun lap and a difficult one to perfect. ”

I then asked Sargent about the end of Sector 2, the winding section from Turn 11 to Turn 16 seen above. Is this the toughest section of the Miami circuit?

“If you look at the race as a whole, there’s a lot of time in the slow corners and it’s obviously important to have tight, very slow sections to hold it together. You will need a vehicle that will allow you to pass comfortably.

“But it’s definitely a difficult section, especially when the wind is blowing.”

Sargent ended the conversation on a very optimistic and upbeat note about how he and Williams will work out in Miami.

“I’m not entirely sure where it’s going to go based on performance, but like I said, this truck is potentially a better fit for our car than some of the trucks we’ve done in the past. Yes, there is some optimism.

“We need to do a clean weekend and see what it does for us.”