Sargeant: Race pace in Austin boosted by 'overnight change'

Logan Sargeant finally broke his duck in last Sunday’s US Grand Prix in which the Williams driver scored his first championship point in F1, a feat the American owed in part to an overnight "systems change " on his FW45.

Granted, Sargeant, who qualified last, lucked into his top-ten finish, having concluded his race P12 before being bumped up to P10 following the post-race exclusions of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

He also benefitted from the retirement of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the second half of the race.

But on merit, he outpaced both Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg, crossing the checkered flag hot on the heels of his Williams teammate Alex Albon.

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2023 United States GP

A double top-ten finish for Williams was a boon, but for Sargeant, P10 was a windfall.

“I had a great start but was unfortunate to catch the sausage kerb in Turn 1 and went into anti-stall which cost me a couple of positions,” the Williams driver explained as he recounted his afternoon.

“We fought back and I gave it my all every lap. We made steps in the right direction that we can build on and move forward as we head to Mexico.

“It’s amazing to score my first point in F1 on home turf after the challenging weekend I’ve had. I’m so proud of this team and myself for the hard work and progress we’ve been making this season.”

With a car locked in parc fermé for the remainder of the weekend after FP1, there was little that Williams could do to improve its car’s performance for race day.

But Sargeant revealed that an overnight systems change went a long way towards improving his pace on Sunday.

“We worked hard overnight to find a direction with the car that was going to be positive, and we found that,” he explained.

“We couldn’t change a lot as the car was under parc ferme, but we worked on the systems side using the tools on my steering wheel to help move the car in the right direction.

“The pace was so much better today, and I was driving really well.”

F1 moves on to Mexico City this week and to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a venue where Sargeant enjoyed an FP1 outing with Williams a year ago.

“It’s an awkward track in terms of max downforce but you’re at such high altitude you’re basically running low downforce, 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.”

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