Pressure Piles on Logan Sargeant as American Legend Voices the Need of the Nation

With Logan Sargeant’s entry into the world of Formula 1, the eight-year absence of an American driver from the sport will end. It was only 11 years ago were no F1 races held in the United States, but today, teams and drivers adore the US Grand Prix. Thanks to Liberty Media and Netflix’s Drive to Survive’, the popularity of the sport had grown fourfold in the US. In light of this, it is only natural if Sargeant has to carry a lot of expectations into the next season.

Back in 1978, Mario Andretti, who finished the season with Lotus as world champion, became the last American to win an F1 race. He was the second person to accomplish the feat, following Phil Hill in 1961. Now, acknowledging the entry of an American driver into the highest level of motorsports, the 1978 winner expressed his delight.

He said, “It’s huge. All of a sudden, we’ve seen a surge that I don’t think was even predictable. And that’s awesome. I’m very close to the organizers of the race in Austin, Texas.”

He added, “As Formula One becomes more and more prominent in these United States, we’d love to have the US national anthem being played on the top step of a Formula One race.”

Here, Andretti is referring to the tradition where after a race ends, the national anthem of the winning driver and then the winning constructor are played back to back at the podium ceremony.

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Mario Andretti has established himself as one of the best American racecar drivers thanks to his victories in the IndyCar, NASCAR, and Formula 1 series. For many years, Andretti has wanted to start his own Formula 1 team, but the idea has not been received well by two of the sport’s top entities.

Is Mario Andretti’s F1 dream still on?

Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, spoke candidly about the possibility of a new Formula 1 team at the start of this year. He believed that because the current teams had already made a significant financial commitment, the prize money is dispersed fairly. The Austrian believed that adding a new team would dilute the respectable fund by 10%, but he would welcome a new team if they made up the lost revenue for the current teams.

Mario appeared to have lost his chance to become the owner of the 11th team after Stefano Domenicali expressed a similar view. Although the American is still making an attempt for it. So it appears that the game is still on.

In a conversation with Gazzetta dello Sport, Andretti said, “We don’t give up. Something more is clarified every week. And it seems we are. There is no possibility of entering with a team already present, so we aim to be the eleventh team. Next year we will have 23 races, we also need a few more cars on the track, 22 is not too many. In my opinion, even 24 would be needed. The idea is to be on track in 2024.” [Translated using Google]

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Though 2022 will be remembered as the most turbulent year in Formula 1 history, do you believe 2023 will offer fans any additional thrills or drama?