Logan Sargeant: “Do you want to get to F1 or not?”

Meet Logan Sargeant  [0:00]

Logan Sargeant: It was a long, excruciating, mentally tough two years in F1, but you have to be up against the best to become the best. 

Greg: How does that change your life, personally and professionally, as a driver? 

‍Logan: It's always a grind, it's always difficult, especially in F1. A little lack of privacy, a little lack of respect. I just wanted to feel the motivation to drive again, really. 

Greg: If you’ve watched F1 in the last five years, then you know Logan Sargeant. He made headlines, and memes, as the next American driver to join Williams on the F1 grid. And while he was the first American to score points in 30 years, living his dream still came with immense pressure. And unfortunately for Logan, his time in F1 was cut short. No more racing, no more media, just radio silence.

Now, two years later, Logan has renewed confidence and is back behind the wheel competing in WEC and IMSA. So, what was it like surviving one of the hardest periods in his life? And how did he fall back in love with something that felt so toxic?

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Why F1 became Logan’s dream [1:03]

Greg: When did that become the aspiration for you, the F1 thing? 

Logan: That's a good question. I think it just naturally kind of fell into place. When I first moved to Europe, you know, we were racing at the highest level in America and everyone always talked about how much better the Europeans were, so, we said, let's find out. Next thing you know, I won the world championship. So that's how that went. 

Greg:  That was the mic drop?

Logan:  Yeah, exactly. [Jokingly].

But no, I learned a lot. For sure the competition was higher, but you have to be up against the best to become the best, and I'm grateful for that. 

Greg: When you get to that level, how does that change your life, personally and professionally, as a driver? 

Logan: Loads of pros and cons come along with it. Definitely a little lack of privacy, a little lack of respect, but that just comes with the spotlight, right? People like to jump on people, but then you also have a lot of people with the support. I would say one of the coolest parts is, you know, the places you get to go, the things you get to do that not many people get to do. So, that was awesome. And then, of course, the racing speaks for itself. The best cars in the world, 100%. 

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Sacrifices made to reach Formula 1 [2:08]

Greg: You grew up karting, you're very young. You went off to Europe and you won the FIA Karting Championship. You're the first American since 1978 to have done it. What, as a young kid, especially as a young American, what did that mean to you? How does that set up your career as a whole? 

‍Logan: Yeah, I mean, it meant a lot. Obviously, it was a big sacrifice because, you know, my whole family moved to Europe for a period of time. It was a great achievement, that's for sure. Helped me be prepared for what was to come, in terms of high levels of competition in car racing. So, it was a great period of time. 

‍Greg:  When you're going through that, you've got your family there, are you thinking about it like; oh, I'm missing out on growing up in the States? We never went to the summer camp as a kid, we always thought, if we're away from home we’ll miss being around those friends, but did that ever click for you like that or was it, this is what life needs to be? 

Logan:  No, I mean, definitely. Of course, you're going to miss your friends that you grew up with and miss your family that's not there. So, no, you definitely have those feelings, but do you want to get to F1 or not? It's kind of that question you ask yourself. And you can either live at home and not make it, or you can try your best and live in Europe and have a chance. 

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Appreciating the good but having a ‘short memory’ in racing [3:14]

Greg:  When you scored a point Austin, you broke a 30-year record. When that happens, did you appreciate it at that time or did it click in later? 

Logan: I think there's appreciation. I mean, I think you show up to every single race weekend and you always give it your absolute all. It's always a grind, it's always difficult, especially in F1, with the level of the teams and drivers. If you're slightly off, it's punished severely. So, of course, good results are massively appreciated because you know how difficult they can be to come by. It more comes down to the process of just trying to have a good, strong weekend, and I was proud of it. 

Greg: Well, we talked to Guenther Steiner, and he was saying how when they debuted and Haas scored points in that first race, how they didn't appreciate it until the next weekend.

‍Logan: You have to have a short memory in F1, I mean, good and bad. You have to appreciate the good, but you can't hold it for too long, and then it's good when you have poor weekends because you can jump right back in and try and rebound. So, that's just the name of the game. 

‍Greg: Is there something that has stuck out to you, that when you think back on that time, like, oh wow, that was a surprise? 

Logan:  Maybe the one surprise is the first time I drove the car, just how much of a wow factor it gives you. How superior it is to every other car on the planet. It's just not even close. 

‍Greg:  Do you find yourself out there chasing that feeling again? 

Logan:  It's not capable of any other car in the world. So, that's just the way it is. 

Greg:  I drove a Nissan Quest growing up. That thing is nowhere near an F1 car!

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How Logan reset after his time in F1 [4:55]

Greg: So, I saw you were talking at the Ford announcement. You've taken some time to recalibrate, as you said, you had some time off from racing. What were you doing in that time to kind of give yourself that new foundation, that grounding? 

Logan: I just wanted to feel the motivation to drive again, really. I wanted to be excited to show up to a racetrack, I wanted to be excited to jump into a car and push it to the limit, and I knew it'd naturally come, and it did. So, I just needed a little bit of time to myself to reset. It was a long, excruciating, mentally tough two years in F1. So, zero regrets with that. 

Greg: Is there anything you did in particular for yourself? Like, was it being on a lake or being on water? 

Logan: Just a Florida guy, again, and enjoyed time with my friends on the water, diving, fishing, water sports, golf, you name it. So, that was fun, but ultimately, you still get a little bored doing all that stuff and you want to get back into something, and of course, that was always going to eventually be racing for me. After spending, what was it, 12 years in Europe, I missed a lot of that. So, it's nice just to kind of recenter myself to that. 

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Learning how to drive ‘free’ (in IMSA and WEC) [6:09]

Greg: Logan's return to elite racing comes with a catch: racing the exact tracks that built him up, only to break him down. Bahrain, where his F1 dream began. COTA, where he made F1 history. And Spa, where the writing was on the wall. Logan knows the personal costs better than most. But this time around, has he finally found peace to just drive?

How has it felt to you to get back behind the car, start racing people again? 

Logan: Oh, it's been great. I've just taken a completely different mentality to it. In my last two races last year in IMSA, I performed extremely well. Just driving a lot more free, a lot less pressure.

Greg: So for you, coming into a squad like [ERA Motorsport], what's been the experience settling in? What are you learning from them? What are you looking to pick up? 

Logan:  No, I feel like we're working well together. We're all working towards a common goal. We all want to make the situation as good as we can. That's all you can ask for. You just got to keep grinding away at it. 

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Logan’s next chapter in racing [7:05]

Greg: What are you calling the next chapter for yourself, and what are you most excited to achieve? 

Logan: You know, I feel like this is going to be a great year for me,  to integrate with Ford. I have a lot of great races I get to drive in, like the Daytona 24, Le Mans 24. It's going to be an exciting 2026 for me, and I get to do a lot of development work for the car next year, and it's a match made in heaven for me being an American. So, I can't lie, I'm definitely excited for when the hypercar comes next year, though, as well. 

Greg: No, you can feel it. I think it's right. You clear your head and you just keep moving forward. When things get hard, you can either grip tighter or kind of let go a little bit, and sometimes that's just the better way to go. 

Logan:  Absolutely. I've learned that in the past few years.

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