Now he’s made it. There was a time, when he was taking drives in the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup for GT3 cars, when he didn’t think F1 was going to happen for him. “I was 100% sure it was dead at that point,” he admits. “I thought I was heading towards the LMP or IndyCar route. At the time I was content with that. In the end it was all beneficial and helped me massively. I’m glad I did it all.
“I would describe myself as someone who has put in a lot of sacrifice and work and moved to Europe at a young age to make this work and make this happen. I gave up a lot to have this opportunity and I feel like I did have a good junior career.”
For the past few years, Sargeant has lived alone in London, where he will remain this year. He admits it has been a little lonely at times, but when you are about to become a bona fide F1 driver life is a little one dimensional anyway. “I’ve enjoyed the hours in the gym and sim… he says. “I know it sounds boring, but that’s what I’ve been doing.”
There are plenty out there who claim Sargeant hasn’t earned his chance on merit, but Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson makes a decent case for him. “He’s progressed really well,” he says. “It was good to be able to get him in the car in Abu Dhabi for the end of season test, that was a really good opportunity for him to work properly with the engineers and get time in the car. I think he’s changed and improved a lot. He’s grown up a lot, it’s fair to say. When we first met him, he was quite quiet, timid, now he starts to talk and sound like a racing driver, a proper F1 racing driver. He’s now commanding as he should be.
“He’s got his group of engineers he’s been working with over the winter. In Abu Dhabi he was quick against Alex, he didn’t put a foot wrong. For sure he’s got quite a lot to learn when it comes to managing the tyres while also racing. That will just take time, get working on that from the beginning of the year.”
It’s clear Sargeant will have to play himself in, especially given that he’ll have just a day and half to get to know the FW45 in the official pre-season Bahrain test later this month, before he returns to the same venue for his F1 debut in early March. Still, he’s not making excuses.
“I wouldn’t say I’m going in on the back foot,” he maintains. “You just have to take things as they come. Having only a day and half of track time means it is absolutely vital to make the most of it. It is what it is and we’ll make the most of it.