Logan Sargeant became F1’s first American driver in almost eight years as he took to the grid for the 2023 season, giving the country a home favourite to cheer once more.

A prolific title winner in karting, championship glory eluded Sargeant after he made the transition to single-seater racing, but pole positions and race victories in almost every category he contested underlined his raw speed and potential.

Indeed, finishing runner-up in F4 UAE, third in British F4 and third in F3 (having also made the podium at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix) showed he could be there or thereabouts in a variety of championships, with plenty of potential still to be untapped.

It also convinced Williams to add the youngster to their books as he reached F2, where more race wins and another top-three classification in 2022 secured the Super Licence points required to complete the journey and graduate to F1 with the Grove team for 2023.

Not since Alexander Rossi’s quintet of appearances with backmarkers Manor at the tail-end of the 2015 season had an American graced the F1 grid, and Sargeant relished changing that across his first season, even if on paper a solitary point was his only reward.

And with three races in the US now on the Formula 1 calendar – Miami, Austin and Las Vegas – America’s latest F1 star knows he will be spurred on by plenty of home support.