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After what was a
very difficult rookie Formula One season with the Williams Racing Team, that
saw him finish with just a single championship point Logan Sargeant has been
able to reflect on what he has learnt from this tough introduction to
Formula One.
Right up to the final race of the 2023 F1 season in Abu Dhabi there was
uncertainty as to whether he would continue with Williams in 2024. But he
was in a position where he had shown enough promise to convince team
principal James Vowles the merit of keeping him on in 2024.
In a recent interview with speedcafe.com Logan spoke of his rookie season.
It was very much a case of he saw 2023 as a season of two halves with
progress being made in the second half. He now appreciates the demands of
being in F1 plus what he has to do to manage his role within the Williams
team.
Logan said: “I just know so much more of what’s coming at me throughout a
weekend. I know much more of what the car is capable of, what it doesn’t
like.
"I’ve just built up a much better feeling for it. It becomes more natural.
Hopefully with a better car as well, a little bit more of a buffer here and
there which would make life easier.
"The biggest change is that from a personal perspective, it’s just the
amount of knowledge I’ve now built up to this point and understanding the
car, more understanding myself how me and the car need to work together to
perform.
“That took longer than I wanted it to. It was just trial and error of trying
things. You made a mistake and you realise that things need to change.
“Vegas was a really good example. We had a car that finally gave us a bit of
margin to the Q1 cut-off and allowed me the opportunity to drive a little
bit more free.
“Especially with that lack of experience, that would help a lot throughout a
season. Having that little bit of margin for error and not having to put it
all on the line, that first lap in quali.
"It allowed me to build lap after lap, to not have to put it all on the line
to get out of Q1," he continued, adding that a big problem as a rookie was
to pushy too hard and end up making costly errors.
"It’s very easy to want too much," he said. “You just simply have to tone it
back and drive to what the car is capable of, and honestly, just be happy
with that.
"It’s better than doing something like I did in Suzuka and throwing it in
the wall," he pointed out. “But I feel like I definitely figured it out over
the past however many rounds.
"It improved after the summer break, and even from a race pace perspective
bar Qatar. In the back half of the season, it was pretty much exactly where
I expected it to be.”
So based on these comments Logan does seem to be in a good place as he goes
into his second season with Williams. But regardless of how he feels about
his past performances and where he is at 2024 is going to have to be a
season where he delivers on his rookie season experience and starts to
achieve results for the team. If not his future at Williams may not last
beyond a second season. |
