From May 5 to 7, Miami Gardens will welcome Formula 1 drivers and fans from across the globe for the highly anticipated (and exorbitantly priced) Crypto.com-sponsored race. Racers' return to the temporary track at Hard Rock Stadium, known as the Miami International Autodrome, comes as the European sport picks up steam across the United States, thanks in part to the popular Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
The fifth race of the season and one of three in the U.S. this year, the Miami Grand Prix will mark the first time that 22-year-old driver Logan Sargeant returns to his childhood home for a Formula 1 race.
Sargeant is one of the youngest F1 drivers this year, but he's been racking up racing experience since early childhood and proved himself a winner in the Formula 2 championship, where he secured three podium finishes in 2022.
His team, Williams Racing, is on the ropes, having finished last in the constructor standings last year and kicking off the 2023 season on shaky ground. The team is hoping Sargeant's hometown crowd and some fresh leadership from new team boss James Vowles will help turn the once-dominant racing giant's fortunes around.
What's certain is that Sargeant will be on familiar turf in South Florida, where he grew up as a kart-racing kid on his path to taking over the driver's seat of an F1 machine.
Cuttin' Teeth in Lauderdale
Sargeant was born in Fort Lauderdale, where he began kart racing at 6 years old. He went on to race competitively across the U.S. and beyond, eventually winning the Karting Federation Junior championship in 2015 and becoming the first American to win an FIA karting championship since 1978. He moved to Europe at age 12 to pursue his Formula 1 dreams.In an interview with GQ last November, Sargeant noted that the Miami track is "right near" the house where he grew up.
"So that's pretty cool," he said.
Logan Sargeant (right) of Williams Racing looks on during day two of F1 testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 24, 2023.
Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images
Sole Ambassador
Sporting stars and stripes on his helmet, Sargeant is the lone U.S. driver on the F1 grid — and the first full-time American racer since California-born Alexander Rossi in 2015. Sargeant has said that he doesn't feel any additional pressure as the only American F1 driver.
"Hopefully I can represent [the country] well and make them proud," he said in an interview with Formula1.com.
Fresh Face at Williams
Last October, Sargeant made his Formula 1 practice debut with Williams Racing at the United States Grand Prix in Texas. Sargeant was an enticing scouting target: last year, he won two races in the Formula 2 championship, where, unlike Formula 1, the racecars are all the same, putting the focus on driver skill.
While Williams originally planned to wait until 2024 to debut Sargeant, the British Formula 1 team announced last fall that it would be parting ways with driver Nicholas Latifi and replacing him with Sargeant. In November 2022, Sargeant was confirmed as a Williams Racing driver for 2023 to race alongside Alex Albon.
He made his F1 race debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix in March 2023, finishing 12th.
Florida Boy at Heart
Although he now lives in London, Sargeant told The Ringer that he grew up watching NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon and fishing off the Florida coast with his family and friends.He roots for his hometown NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, as well as the Florida Panthers, and like many South Florida natives, he has a favorite seaside eatery: Cafe Martorano in Fort Lauderdale.
Before returning to South Florida, Sargeant is scheduled to race halfway across the globe, on the edge of the Caspian Sea, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit on April 30.
