Lighthouse Point, Florida, is a quiet community situated about halfway between Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. It’s a typical upscale enclave along this eastern stretch of the state, where homes have manicured Bermuda grass lawns and luxury rides are parked beneath the palms. Gulf Stream breezes waft over the streets, bearing salt by day and jasmine by night, and it seems like everyone has a boat.
“Being on the water was all we did when growing up,” says 22-year-old Logan Sargeant, who was born and raised in the town, his quartz-hued eyes flashing in the New York City morning light. (We’ve met for breakfast at Soho House.) “I love wake surfing, wakeboarding, regular surfing. Fishing. Spearfishing. My favorite things to do, hands down,” he continues, polishing off a plate of eggs Benedict with a mountain of smoked salmon, before cracking a grin. “Well, besides driving.”
Handsome and wiry, Sargeant is a Formula 1 driver for Williams Racing—the second-winningest F1 team of all time—on the front end of his freshman season, and this weekend, he returns to South Florida to compete in what is essentially his homecoming race: the Miami Grand Prix. What’s more, when Miami goes “lights out”—racing’s term for starting—Sargeant will become the first American driver to compete on American soil in Formula 1 in nearly a decade. Most of F1’s marquee names lately have been European, with a handful of Australian, Asian, and Latin American drivers in the mix, too. It’s a big deal, especially in the wake of Netflix’s popular Formula 1: Drive to Survive docuseries, which has significantly expanded F1’s fanbase in the U.S. As a result, Sargeant no doubt faces a singular pressure in the Magic City.
“I am patriotic,” he says. “I love my birth country. I want to represent well and do my best, for sure. And I’m looking forward to Miami, then Austin and then Las Vegas”—a new stop on the F1 circuit in 2023. “But regarding the added expectations at home, I’m not directly thinking about that responsibility so much. It’s more about driving to the best of my ability, knowing what I am doing is right, and putting in the effort to do everything I can.” He pauses for a moment, and adds: “I think it’s just, like, how do you get through it using the least amount of mental energy? If you’re thinking too much, you might start asking yourself why, or saying I shouldn’t be here.”
When he was 12, Sargeant, his older brother Dalton, and their father moved to Europe to commit to a life of junior racing. Logan and Dalton had taken a strong interest in competitive go-karting in Florida (thanks to a surprise Christmas gift from their parents), and actually used to race the mini-sports cars about “10 minutes up the road” from the Hard Rock Stadium, which hosts the Miami Grand Prix. But to be immersed in true racing culture—especially with eyes on the Formula 1 ring, in time—they would need to be, as their father determined, in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. And Logan, especially, showed a natural aptitude for speed.
Sargeant formally broke into Formula 4, a lower Formula series, over the 2016-2017 season. He soon joined a team called Carlin where, fun fact, the other current Formula 1 rookie Oscar Piastri (who now drives for McLaren) was his teammate. There, Sargeant would progress along the ranks and tiers: In 2020, he won his first Formula 3 race at the legendary British course Silverstone.
“[Moving to Europe] was definitely tough at times. It was so different to anything I’d known back home. No ocean, obviously. It was especially tough when I moved to London. I really wasn’t a fan at all. Now I enjoy it, but it took a long time to get there.” (Sargeant lives in the British capital’s Earl’s Court neighborhood.)
He had a successful 2022 in Formula 2, finishing fourth in the flight’s overall standings. Sargeant was on Williams’s radar well ahead of that checkered flag—but actually joining the roster was a bit of a nail-biter. “In terms of signing a F1 contract, I’d say mine was probably as provisional as anyone’s has ever been,” Sargeant says. To be considered for F1, drivers must earn a super-license, a qualification that requires, in part, a certain number of points accumulated over the previous three seasons. (Drivers win points based on where they place in a race.) As the season’s end approached, Sargeant was short of the 40-point benchmark. Something quickly clicked. “I ended up with 70,” he says. “More than enough.”
He adds: “I feel like it’s not that often that you have a Formula 1 team sort of put so much trust into a young driver, and give them an opportunity. I mean, you would never see a big team—a Red Bull or Mercedes or Ferrari—do that. And that says a lot, to be honest, about this group.”
In recent years, Williams has not been competitive near the top of the F1 ladder, with powerhouses Red Bull, Mercedes AMG Petronas, and Ferrari holding those positions. In 2023, Aston Martin is also up there. Yet for Sargeant, the chance to be in Formula 1, as one of only 20 drivers, means he is already winning.
So far in 2023, F1 races have taken place in Sakhir, Bahrain; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Melbourne, Australia; and Baku, Azerbaijan (the latter transpired just this past weekend). Sargeant’s best finish was 12th, in Bahrain; Baku saw a tough crash (just part of the job). It’s still very early, though, and—like in any new role—there’s going to be a getting-used-to-it period. Maybe a little hometown love will propel him a bit?
No matter how things shake out, however, Sargeant remains undeterred: “I just look to the top and say, That’s where I want to go.”