F1 pundits Nate Saunders, Chris Medland, and Lawrence Barretto discussed the exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. While on one end they had the grandeur and fun activities of the Sin City, drivers had to race cars on a chilly Saturday night in Las Vegas. However, there were some drivers like Logan Sargeant who took the chance to have some fun when they got the chance.
On the latest episode of the Pad-Hoc podcast, Saunders discussed an incident involving Sargeant in a casino in Vegas. The ESPN journalist narrated how the trio went to a casino and crossed paths with the American driver, in a moment of awkwardness.
However, Saunders clarified that it was indeed a normal occurrence. He still highlighted Sargeant‘s thought process, “And Sargeant was funny. Because he saw all of us, kind of recognized a few of them.”
“I think for a second he thought, ‘is this gonna get out that I’m here? Is it a bad thing I’m here?'”, quipped Saunders.
The trio also saw Carlos Sainz playing roulette at one table. Saunders cited that Sainz’s group almost tripled their money by betting on red. This highlighted how drivers took their time to explore the nightlife craze of Las Vegas that is often talked about.
Logan Sargeant had bigger fish to fry in Las Vegas
Coming to his third home race of the year, Logan Sargeant was on uncertain ground with his F1 future. There were talks about Williams replacing him in 2024. Thus, his performance at the Las Vegas GP was crucial from that perspective. And the American driver delivered.
An impressive P3 in FP3 and a well-deserved P7 in qualifying gave Sargeant a good platform to perform. The Vegas straights suited the Williams FW45 with its low drag characteristics. The 22-year-old took full advantage of it. While, both he and Alex Albon fell back in the race, it helped just enough for Sargeant to save his seat.
Just a week after the Abu Dhabi finale, Williams announced the driver from Florida to continue with the team for 2024. While the American driver managed to score only one point (courtesy of the US GP disqualifications), team boss James Vowles believes in Sargeant’s prowess.
After extending his stay for the next season, Vowles praised the rookie driver and showed his confidence. He stated, “Logan has demonstrated immense skill whilst under the pressure of the world stage, making him a perfect fit for our team.”
Vowles added, “We have great confidence in his abilities and believe that together we can achieve even greater success in the upcoming season.” While the Las Vegas GP performance bodes well for Sargeant, he will need to step up his consistency in 2024 to stay in F1 beyond that.
