As the only graduate of the 2022 Formula 2 championship, Logan Sargeant is ready to bring his “F2 mentality” to Formula 1 at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Williams driver is one of two drivers yet to score points in 2023 – the other being Nyck de Vries – after colliding with the AlphaTauri driver at the end of the Australian GP.
The F1 circus heads to Baku for the first sprint of the year and the reimagined format of the weekend plays right into Sargeant’s hand given his recent experience in the junior formulae.
“It’s difficult going to tracks you don’t know extremely well,” Sargeant told the media ahead of the 2023 Azerbaijan GP. “But this one, I’m fairly comfortable going into.
“It kind of gives me a chance to have F2 mentality coming into Friday because it’s an hour of practice then right into qualifying so I’m fresh off doing that last year.”
Better format
The new sprint weekend format has halved the practice time from 2022 with just one hour for the teams and drivers to get dialled in on Friday morning. Qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix then follows to round out the Friday running, leaving Saturday as a sprint-only day.
Sprint qualifying will take the place of FP2 on Saturday morning with the sprint itself unchanged as a 100km dash at all six sprint events this season.
Sargeant believes this is a much better format than before as it will give him two chances at qualifying and the race in one weekend.
“In my opinion, the format is better than what it was,” Sargeant added. “From a personal perspective, it gives me a chance to have two goes at it.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity for me to keep building on my experiences. To have two qualifying sessions is huge for me and the sprint race is a great chance for me to prep for the race on Sunday.”
