Sawt Falasteen - American rookie Sargeant faces 'big hurdle' in home debut

Sargeant's early steps in motorsport were at South Florida's Homestead track, best known for NASCAR racing, and after showing early promise in karting he moved to Europe as a 12-year-old and began to compete in various series.

Driving in F3 and then F2, Sargeant has never competed in an official car race of any kind in the US.

He was given his chance in Formula One with Williams this season, after just one season in F2, having joined their academy in 2021.

With the Miami GP in only its second year, the course will be totally new to Sargeant, even if the heat should be familiar for the Fort Lauderdale born driver.

"I'm excited for this weekend – it's nice to be back in my well-known climate, which is extremely hot. But it's going to be a tough weekend not knowing the track. It's a big hurdle to climb but yeah I'm excited," he said.

"I started racing 10 minutes down the road at Homestead-Miami Speedway," he explained. "It was really just at the time something to do with my dad and my brother. Obviously we were competitive kids, and we just loved the sport and we love the adrenaline, and that just took us on a long journey. Here we are, done the full circle back to Miami for my ... first home F1 race. Looking forward to it."

The 22-year-old is the first F1 driver from the United States since Alexander Rossi in 2015 and has joined the circuit at a time of unprecedented popularity in his homeland.

Sargeant has yet to pick up a point after four races this season but there would be no better place for him to make that top-10 breakthrough than in front of a crowd which will include many friends and relatives.

"I probably had about a thousand ticket requests at this point – no, not that many, maybe a hundred – but no, I don't have tickets as easy as everyone thinks! I's nice to be here, it's going to be nice to actually take part in my first ever car race in America, that will be pretty cool.

"Just to see the American fans, our friends and family here – the atmosphere is always good in America. The American fans put out, so I'm excited to have that home atmosphere for the first time and really just enjoy every part of the weekend."

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST