Sargeant confident of fighting at the front after best F2 Practice result ever

20 May 2022

Logan Sargeant is expecting to fight at the sharp end of the grid in Qualifying after his best Formula 2 Practice performance. The Carlin driver finished third-fastest with a 1:31.417, trailing Felipe Drugovich and Jehan Daruvala only.

F2 visited Barcelona for in-season tests just last month but temperatures then were vastly different to conditions facing drivers this weekend.

Having gathered data that is now worth less due to the drastic difference in track and ambient temperatures, gaining confidence quickly will be very important according to the American.

“Coming from the test, which was colder and promoted more grip, it was pretty tricky (today). Many cars went off, so I had to adapt quite a bit from what I was expecting. There’s definitely some adjustments and tweaks to be made and that can help us going into qualifying.

“I think it’s a track that’s brought me a lot of success in the past, that’s obviously a massive confidence boost going into the weekend. But there’s 22 really good drivers in F2 and it’s never easy. I think if we do a good job as I know we can then we can be at the front.”

Temperatures were high during the sole Practice session of the weekend which left the drivers in a tough position in terms of setting their cars up. With temperatures expected to drop in time for the late afternoon qualifying session, Sargeant expects the pace to be much quicker than so far this weekend.

“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult. We’re going to gain a lot of grip just from the compound itself but it should be starting to cool down in the afternoon, that will help us go quicker. It’s going to be a massive step in terms of pace, I’m confident that the car will be quick enough to be at the front."

His and the rest of the F2 grid's cause wasn't helped by two red flag stoppages during Practice. Olli Caldwell's crash at Turn 9 and Marcus Armstrong's spin into the gravel at Turn 4 limited running for the rest of the field, but Sargeant says he isn't too worried about the lack of track time thus far.

“Although it was just Free Practice, I was able to stay pretty calm and wasn’t too worried about it. I knew the time would come and I’d be able to do a lap, so I was just staying cool.”