Formula 1

Logan’s run in Austin a success as American completes FP1 program

Fraser Masefield
21 Oct 2022
3 min read

Williams Racing Academy driver Logan Sargeant was left a happy man after completing a successful first ever FP1 outing in a Formula 1 car.

Placed in a competitive environment for the first time in F1, the American driver completed 23 trouble free laps of the challenging Circuit of the Americas and provided valuable data for the team going forwards into the weekend.

“The main goal coming into today was to learn as much as possible and I feel like I did pick up on a lot,” commented Sargeant in his team’s official press release.

“It was very different to what I honestly expected but in a good way. The way that the car reacts compared to what I’m used to in Formula 2 is massively different. Super reactive in the high-speed and so good on the brakes.

Formula 2 driver Sargeant had previous experience of driving for the famous Williams Racing F1 team, partnered by Acronis, having taken part in last season’s post Abu Dhabi GP young driver test.

Yet that was a very different experience driving to empty grandstands and fellow rookies than driving alongside the F1 elite in a competitive environment for the first time.

“A lot of potential to still pick up on and improve on, but I think it was a good start and happy with how it went,” he added. “A massive thank you to Williams and Dorilton Motor Sports for their support and the opportunity today.”

As for the remainder of the Friday session, Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson was left encouraged by what he saw as regular drivers Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi took over duties, that included a ‘blind’ Pirelli tyre test in preparation for the 2023 regulations.

“Logan did a good job today and was able to build on the running he did in Abu Dhabi last year and on the simulator sessions that he has done since. He didn’t make any mistakes today, drove well and had some good feedback for the engineers,” said Robson of Sargeant’s run.

“We completed the tyre testing without any issues but as we were doing the testing blind and as we weren’t permitted to change the setup during the session, there was little relevance to the rest of this weekend. However, it allowed Nicholas to get some laps done having missed FP1.

“We have a lot of work to do tomorrow to get the cars ready for qualifying and to some extent tomorrow will be a bit like a Friday of a sprint event.

“The weather looks like it will stay hot and windy for the rest of the weekend so part of our task tomorrow will be to understand how best to manage the tyres in these tricky conditions.”

TEAM UP WITH ACRONIS

Prominent once again on the nose of the car and on the front wing endplates this season are the team’s official cyber protection partner Acronis. Williams Racing uses Acronis technology to add extra layers of protection to its IT infrastructure, protecting hundreds of servers and endpoint devices.

During the 2021 season and continuing this year, Acronis opened up an exciting #TeamUp Program, giving new and existing service providers the opportunity to support sports partnerships, join the sports ecosystem, attend races and enjoy amazing sports marketing benefits.

To find out more and to become a part of this exciting #TeamUp programme, please visit Cyber Protection for global sports – Acronis

Williams Racing.
Spanish Grand Prix, Friday 20th May 2022. Barcelona, Spain.

 

Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.

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