Logan Sargeant says he was proud of his performance at the United States Grand Prix even before he was promoted into the points for the first time.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified after the race for a technical infringement, resulting in Sargeant moving up from his 12th-place finish to be classified 10th. That decision came when the Floridian was already on a plane home, but speaking in the aftermath of the race, he was boosted by matching teammate Alex Albon and ending up just over a second behind the lead Williams.
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“I think mostly satisfied, proud of myself with the turnaround from (Saturday) – it wasn’t a good day,” Sargeant said. “I picked myself up, found what I needed to, and had really good pace (in the race). A little bit unlucky in Turn 1, catching the sausage curb and going into anti-stall, that was a few positions there, then I’m proud of the race we had. Little bits I could have done better, but a great turnaround.
“It was a good step in the right direction for sure, just shows there is progress being made. I didn’t have the greatest two qualifyings here, but in previous rounds quali’s been a good step forward. I showed a really good race pace, a good 56 laps.
“It was nice (to do on home soil). I gave it everything; I was pretty gassed at the end. It becomes more difficult; the pace is increasing, the tires are degging, you’re cautious of track limits, everything’s becoming really intense… just happy to bring it home.”
With little time to rest between races, Sargeant is spending a few days at home in Florida before heading to Mexico where he hopes to continue the momentum from his Austin weekend.
“It’s an awkward track in terms of max downforce but you’re at such high altitude you’re basically running low downforce, which is something to get my head around,” he said.
“Fortunately it’s a normal race weekend, which is a positive for myself. I did FP1 last year, got along with the track quite well, so I’ll just try and keep myself moving in the right direction.”
Sargeant’s final result in Austin makes him the first American to score a point in Formula 1 since Michael Andretti in 1993, and the first to do so on home soil since Eddie Cheever in 1989.