Sargeant fights for his place at Williams: 'Sometimes that's a struggle'

Prior to the summer break, Sargeant felt like he was tired. His first six months in F1 had not exactly gone smoothly. The Williams driver had already seen teammate Alexander Albon take points several times, but Sargeant himself had yet to succeed.

What perhaps gnawed at him even more was the fact that he had already caused a lot of damage. At tracks he was not yet familiar with, but also at tracks the American had visited before. So, the summer break came in handy to recharge his batteries.

Why Sargeant needed a summer break

Ibiza was the refuge, Sargeant told GPblog in an exclusive interview, although the 22-year-old driver did not see it as fleeing. "I think everyone needs a summer break at a certain point. A summer break is a good opportunity to step away from it and come back with a fresh mindset. Personally, I always feel like I come back better from a break.

"When you disconnect completely from racing, it allows you to unconsciously soak in everything you've learned. When you come back, you're fresher. You've taken everything you've learned from the first part of the season, and you're ready to attack again. It suits me just because it's something I need."

Sargeant is realistic and knows he needs to do better than what he has shown so far. The American has already shown flashes of talent this year, but it often comes up just short across an entire weekend. For example, Sargeant drove a great qualifying session in the Netherlands and reached Q3, only to crash in that part of qualifying. Sargeant also failed to cross the finish line in the race due to a collision.

What Sargeant wants to do better at Williams

"I'm always critical of myself. However, I realise the level of difficulty and the challenge that F1 is. You're up against 20 drivers with more experience who are also amazing drivers. So you do appreciate how difficult the challenge is. But at the end of the day, you need to keep improving and get to the level I need to be at."

That next step is mainly in Sargeant's consistency. The speed is there. Now it has to come out in qualifying and the race without ending up in the wall. Sargeant explains why this particular part is so difficult to learn.

"It's about understanding how to get everything out of a car. As that becomes more natural, the speed becomes more natural. I felt like, at times, I had to force it a bit too much in the first part of the season. I think as I get more comfortable and everything becomes more natural, it should happen more consistently."

For that, Sargeant also points to the changing conditions this season. For the first part of the season, Sargeant found himself at tracks he was not yet familiar with, and when he got to the tracks he was familiar with, the weather often played a significant role. That did not help the learning process to perform more and more consistently. It, therefore, seems like a similar situation Alexander Albon found himself in in 2020 when he kept pushing to get close to Max Verstappen as a teammate. Sargeant, therefore, says he will learn a lot from his more experienced teammate.

Sargeant gets support from Williams

"We haven't spoken about that part in particular. But for sure, with Alex, we talk every weekend about what we're feeling in terms of the car, in terms of driving, all that sort of stuff. It’s very open between us."

With all the pressure on his position, it seems difficult to fully enjoy his first year in F1. From the outside, there is plenty of speculation about Sargeant's seat and whether he will still be Albon's teammate next season. All this makes it harder to enjoy every moment in the sport.

"I think you enjoy it when you're winning. I try to enjoy it as much as I can. Don't get me wrong, I love stepping in an F1 car every chance I get. But I think at times, it is a struggle. You're also very caught up in how to keep improving. Sometimes that takes away from what you're actually doing.

"All you're worried about is improving physically and mentally. You can lose sight of how lucky you are to be doing what you're doing. It is important to always see it that way and appreciate it. At the same time, you have to keep working hard to make sure you can stay here."

An important role in enjoying F1 is also played by the team. Whereas some teams can be bitterly hard on their drivers, this is not the case at Williams. Nicholas Latifi was given a helping hand for years, and even now there is a lot of internal support for the still-young driver. James Vowles wants to see improvement from Sargeant and wants to see him achieve certain goals, but also clearly stresses that mistakes can be made.

"James has been amazing from a driving point of view. He understands the mental side of the game and the human emotion side of the game as well. He has really had a positive impact on the team. I feel like, as a team, the support is always there, and you can feel it. That's always nice."

Asked when Sargeant will be happy at the end of 2023, he kept pretty much to himself. "I don't know. We'll see. As long as I feel like I've performed to the best of my ability. I need to clean some things up. If I feel like I've done that and moved in the right direction, I have to be happy with that."