Logan Sargeant ready to 'annoy' Lewis Hamilton at Las Vegas GP as Williams shine

18 November 2023 , 11:09

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Williams look impressively fast on the Las Vegas track (Image: AP)

Logan Sargeant is ready to "annoy" his Formula 1 rivals in the hunt for points at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Williams enjoyed an incredible qualifying session. The high top speed of their cars meant they were always likely to fare well on this new street circuit, but even they probably didn't imagine having both cars on the third row of the grid.

Alex Albon continued his streak of never having been out-qualified by team-mate Logan Sargeant. But the American ran him very close on this occasion, just one place behind to secure the best grid slot of fledgling F1 career to date.

And in doing so, Sargeant placed better than plenty of big names. Most notably, his Q3 appearance came at the expense of Lewis Hamilton who was only 11th quickest on the road, while Sergio Perez and Lando Norris also saw their sessions ended earlier than they wanted.

It remains to be seen whether Williams will have the race pace to hold off those behind them. But, buoyed by their one-lap pace, speed on the straights and increased performance in colder temperatures, Sargeant thinks he and his team-mate can be thorns in the side of the likes of Hamilton and Perez who want to overtake them.

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"Today felt really good from FP3 onwards," beamed the home hero. "I'm very happy to execute over three separate sessions and finally extract the potential that we've had. To do it here in Vegas is extra special which is highlighted by the fact we have a great car here.

"It's not easy to deliver on that performance, so the fact we're able to continuously do that throughout the session is awesome. It's been a great day for the team and congrats to everyone. We've worked hard and knew this weekend was a good opportunity and we're off to the right start.

"Most importantly we have two cars near the front of the grid. We have a very annoying car down the straights for others, so we'll try and use that to our advantage. Hopefully we can continue this level of performance and have a strong race."

Albon, who has had a very strong sophomore season with Williams, was similarly delighted. He said: "We executed very well today. We've known this track was going to suit us but it's always a bit scary coming in when there's a bit of hype and pressure, so I'm really happy with how that went.

"I've been struggling with the brakes all weekend and after my off in FP3, I had to reset my confidence a little bit. I also just want to say thanks again to the team for their hard work in getting the car ready for qualifying. [The race] is going to be all about the graining, with cars that suffer probably going a second and a half slower and vulnerable to anyone overtaking.

"We did have some graining on Friday, but we've made some setup changes that should hopefully help mitigate this. I'm obviously excited for Logan as well, so to be starting P5 and P6 due to penalties, we now just need to finish it off tomorrow."

Daniel Moxon