After finishing fourth in the 2022 F2 championship, when none of the three drivers ahead of him – champion Felipe Drugovich, Theo Pourchaire, and Liam Lawson – were offered a full-time F1 drive, Sargeant was taken on by Williams as the replacement for Nicholas Latifi.
The campaign proved to be a baptism of fire for the 23-year-old American who often struggled with an under-performing car which resulted in numerous crashes and doubts being cast over his future.
Fortunately for Sargeant, he had an understanding team principal in James Vowles who was prepared to bide his time with his young driver, to offer the benefit of the doubt on occasion, and most importantly, put an arm around his shoulder when required.
Sargeant concedes he endured “tough days” last year but felt that from a performance perspective over the second half of the season, there were “a lot of improvements”, with his race pace “pretty much where it needed to be”, whilst he also “finally started to clean up quali a little as well”.
Sargeant claims he eventually managed to figure out the right approach with himself, the car, and how to handle a grand prix weekend as a whole.
Asked by Speedcafe as to the exact nature of that approach, he replied: “It was just trial and error of trying things. Unfortunately, you make a mistake and you realise that things need to change.
“Vegas was a really good example of that. 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, to not have to put it all on the line to get out of Q1. It allowed me to build lap after lap.
“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.
“I feel like from an approach point of view, it’s very easy to ask for too much (from the car). It’s very easy to want too much.
“You just simply have to tone it back and drive to what the car is capable of, and honestly, just be happy with that.
“Even if that’s unfortunately out in Q1, it’s better than doing something like I did in Suzuka and throwing it in the wall.”
Vowles waited until after the season had concluded before confirming that Sargeant would be retained for this year.
With knowledge banked, experience gained, and an approach now formulated, Sargeant is “100 percent” confident of embarking on his “completely different story”.
“I just know so much more of what’s coming at me throughout a weekend,” he said. “I know much more of what the car is capable of, what it doesn’t like. Obviously, that will change (with the new car for this year).
“But I feel like I’ve just built up a much better feeling for it, and simply, it becomes more natural and hopefully with a better car as well we will have what I was talking about in having a little bit more of a buffer here and there which would make life easier.
“There are many things, but I think the biggest 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, but more understanding myself, understanding how me and the car need to work together to perform. That took longer than I wanted it to.
“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, back half of the season, it was pretty much exactly where I expected it to be.”
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