Williams rookie driver Logan Sargeant has said he is delighted with his first outing in F1 despite just missing out on a points finish on debut at the Bahrain GP.
The American joined Williams at the end of 2022, replacing Nicholas Latifi as Alex Albon’s teammate as the first US driver on the grid since Alexander Rossi in 2015.
The Florida native faced a tough challenge as Williams look to climb their way back up the standings, but after an encouraging where he managed to work his way from 16th on the grid to finish 12th, Sargeant said he was happy with how things had gone.
“Yeah, I think really pleased with my first race,” Sargeant told Sky Sports F1.
“I feel like everything operationally from race start to pitstops VSCS, everything, everything went smoothly and really happy with the pace that me and Alex had today.
“I think the team’s done an amazing job all weekend, just unlocking that pace.
We probably didn’t expect where we were now, compared to the test. And that’s just a massive testament to the work that the team has done. Super proud of everything.”
Tough qualifying, better race
Sargeant narrowly missed out on getting into Q2 in his first qualifying session in F1 after he qualified with the same time as Lando Norris, but was eliminated as the McLaren driver set his lap first.
And he explained after the session that a small mistake had probably cost the team the opportunity to get both cars out of Q1.
“I think the team deserved both cars in Q2 today,” he told the media.
“I just made a little mistake in Sector 1 that was quite costly, the wind changed in Sector 1 and I couldn’t quite find my braking point.
“But to be honest, as a team the pace we had today is really positive. I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable and then just iron out those little mistakes moving forward.”
