Sargeant: As long as people who matter know, the rest is irrelevant

New Williams team boss James Vowles kept the faith in 23-year-old Sargeant despite him scoring a single point while his teammate Alex Albon scored 27 of the team's points and thoroughly humbled his teammate just about every race weekend. The qualifying score was 22-0.

Last season criticism by media, including this site, of Sargeant's below-par performances was rife. His contract extension came as a surprise amid a queue of young talent itching to get an F1 break.

Speaking to Motorsport Network, Logan explained how he coped: “I think people think and expect less from an American driver. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, because as long as the people who matter sort of know what's going on, and know what you're capable of, that's all that matters.

“So the external noise is just realistically completely irrelevant. You just do your job, you keep working hard, and you work with the people who can make a difference to your career, and you do your best for them.

“They also try to help you move forward as well. And that's all you can really do. So as long as the people who need to know, know, then the rest is completely irrelevant," reckoned Sargeant.

With F1 booming in the USA, the stage is ripe for a team from the States, with Andretti Global's entry teetering on being accepted, it makes sense that drivers will be interested, but Logan explained: “There's a lot of obstacles for Americans to get into F1. It's not easy to sort of pick your life up, move to Europe and race overseas. It costs a lot of money. It’s just a lot easier to race in America."

“You obviously have great options there between IndyCar and NASCAR. It’s not an easy move for anyone. So I feel like that's why I feel, and especially when I was coming through, there were very few American drivers even attempting to get to F1," recalled Sargeant.

Fellow young American, Colton Herta, a 'homegrown' driver with F1 potential, said of his own ambitions: "I have probably reached the age limit to land in Formula 1."

And realises none of the existing ten F1 teams will give him a break. 23-year-old Herta's best option is Michael Andretti's F1 plans, which hang in limbo for now: "I think the goal is still to have a Formula 1 team, and they are still trying.

"If this happens we will have to see what the times will be and at what point I will be in my life. For me, right now, the main focus is IndyCar, then we'll see how it ends," added Herta who will contest the 2024 Indycar series with Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian.

In 2024, Sargeant will again fly the stars and stripes in F1 with the goal of being a great deal better than he was in his rookie season. Much closer to Albon, less mistake-prone and all-around consistency.

To do that, in his F1.com column, Sargeant wrote of his 2024 F1 battle plan: "I can say from personal experience, the work we’re doing on the sim is all going in the right direction. It feels like a good step better. It’s always one of those where you’re cautious until you put the car on the ground. We don’t want to get overexcited.

"I’m just going to do my best to increase the intensity of my training. We were very busy at the back end of last year and start of this year with work at the factory and that took away a bit of time at the gym. So, it’ll give me an extra few weeks of training and that makes quite a big difference," added Sargeant.