Lewis Hamilton is arguably one of the most popular and influential F1 drivers of all time. For young drivers who saw the Brit race growing up, Hamilton was the reason many of them made F1 their passion. One such driver who was a huge fan of Hamilton growing up was Logan Sargeant. As per the latest episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast, Hamilton majorly influenced Sargeant to make F1 his life.
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Sargeant’s initial exposure to racing came in the form of American motorsports. F1 wasn’t particularly popular when he was growing up so he followed and dreamed of making it big in racing ventures such as NASCAR or IndyCar.
Today, however, he is “living the F1 dream”. Sargeant is currently in his rookie F1 season, driving for Williams, and cited Hamilton as one of the main reasons behind him being at the pinnacle of motorsports today.
Impact Lewis Hamilton had in shaping Logan Sargeant’s racing dream
As a child, Sargeant’s racing idol wasn’t an F1 driver. Instead, it was NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon. During his interview on Beyond the Grid, Tom Clarkson asked him how he came to fall in love with F1, despite idolizing a stock car driver. To this, Sargeant started talking about his first exposure with F1, which came in the year Hamilton won his first title- 2008.
In 2008, 23-year-old Lewis Hamilton took the entire world by storm by winning his first championship with McLaren. He inspired an entire generation of young drivers who were back home watching him compete at the highest level with such little experience.
Sargeant, who was 8 years old when Hamilton won the championship stated that the Briton’s victory campaign was the first time he properly followed F1. In spite of loving NASCAR and Jeff Gordon, what Sargeant was looking for was competition at the highest level. This brought him to Europe a few years later, where he ultimately began his journey towards F1.
Logan Sargeant on growing up with Pat O’Ward and Colton Herta
F1 is growing rapidly in the US today. This has led to teams taking an interest into the stars who race in IndyCar or NASCAR. In particular, we have seen Pat O’Ward and Colton Herta’s name come up many times in rumors linking them to a potential F1 move.
Sargeant reveals that he has plenty of friends in IndyCar today with whom he grew up with as friends. He became close to both O’Ward and Herta in the American karting circuit when they were kids. However, after reaching a certain age, they went their own separate ways.
Sargeant moved to Europe where he rose through the junior Formula ranks to make his way to F1. Currently at Williams in his rookie year, the Florida native is yet to score his maiden points in F1.
