American Freshman Logan Sargeant Almost Abandoned Lifelong F1 Dream for High Speed Adventure That “Creeped” Daniel Ricciardo Out

After successful runs in F2 and F3, Logan Sargeant left quite an impression on Williams. The Oxfordshire-based team was looking to replace Nicholas Latifi, whose 3-year stint was underwhelming, to say the least. However, before the American driver penned the F1 deal, he was very close to joining IndyCar, the championship Daniel Ricciardo dreads.

America’s wait to see one of their own race in F1 is finally over. Logan Sargeant is the first from the States to race in the pinnacle of motorsports since Alexander Rossi. Rossi raced his last in F1 in 2015 for Marussia. The F1 calling did not come easy to Logan though as he toiled hard for years in multiple feeder series. He will look forward to reviving his F3 rivalry with Oscar Piastri next year.

Speaking with F1 Feeder Series in April this year, Logan revealed, “I was pretty close [to joining IndyCar], pretty close to be honest. To be fair a lot of it would have depended on that test that was soon to come. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see what that car could do in the end because I was looking forward to it, but bigger and better things came along.”

Ever since Fernando Alonso tried his hand out at Indy500, the series has been pretty appealing to the F1 drivers. However, Daniel Ricciardo is not a fan. Speaking in a press conference ahead of the 2018 US GP, the Honey Badger told, “Ovals creep me out a little bit. I won’t lie. It would be cool. I don’t know. I would at least like to have a go, like maybe just a test. Let’s see how things go but yeah, it was cool watching Fernando do it”

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It has been 4 years since then, however, Ricciardo’s fear of the ovals hasn’t really subsided.

Daniel Ricciardo rejects Pato O’Ward’s offer

As Daniel Ricciardo announced his decision to take a year off from F1, there were many offers that came his way. One of those was from IndyCar racer Patricio O’Ward. Knowing about Daniel’s fandom of NASCAR and IndyCar, Pato only thought it was appropriate to suggest the Australian tried his hand out in his championship.

However, as per Motorsport, Daniel responded, “I do watch a lot of the [IndyCar] races and I enjoy it as a fan, as a spectator. But let’s say, I think mentally, I’m just not there at the moment. I’m still kind of with Formula 1 in my mind.”

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While Ricciardo will stay away from regular action in F1 in 2023, he will serve Red Bull as a third driver. He will certainly look to make a comeback as a regular in 2024.