American driver Logan Sargeant will race for Williams in F1 next season, pending an FIA superlicence, team boss Jost Capito confirmed on Saturday.
Sargeant, 21, would become the first American on the F1 grid since Alexander Rossi in 2015. He would replace the outgoing Nicholas Latifi.
Sargeant needs to have 40 points on his superlicence to join the grid — he now has 28 and could get to 30 from planned Friday practice appearances in Mexico and Abu Dhabi if he completes over 100km, penalty free, in both.
He is currently third in the F2 championship and would need to finish sixth or higher to collect the remaining points he needs. F1’s feeder series has two races remaining, both ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November.
The Floridian drove for Williams in Friday practice for the U.S. Grand Prix this weekend, his first taste of F1 machinery.
Just under 24 hours later, Capito started the team bosses’ Saturday news conference by answering a question on Sargeant, saying: “After Abu Dhabi, he will be our second driver next year”.
It is unclear whether Williams has a backup plan in case Sargeant is unable to collect the points he needs or whether Capito was supposed to make the announcement when he did.
He confirmed the news just moments after Williams sent out a news release confirming Sargeant’s practice outings in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, which made no mention of 2023.
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