Sargeant Expecting ‘Physical’ Race; Drugovich Focused On Staying ‘Clean’

Carlin’s Logan Sargeant took his maiden FIA Formula 2 pole position in Friday’s Qualifying, ahead of championship leader Felipe Drugovich who qualified in third place.

The feat marks the American’s third pole position at Silverstone Circuit in his junior single-seater career after previously taking back-to-back poles in the 2020 FIA Formula 3 season.

While the results speak for themselves, Sargeant is unsure as to why he is so fast on the legendary British circuit, saying in the post-qualifying press conference, “I didn’t know this track just suits me. Every time I come here, I seem to be quick. The car was absolutely hooked up today so a big thank you to Carlin. Laid down a heater.”

The Williams Academy driver was on fine form all day on Friday, with him also setting the fastest time in the morning Free Practice session. “I think Free Practice this morning was a really strong start for us. Obviously, the weather was looking a little bit tricky. So I was happy to the weather held out.”

“We did need to make a few tweaks after Free Practice. It wasn’t completely in the window, but I’m very happy with where we put the car in Qualifying.“

Looking ahead to the race, the one thing that is playing on Sargeant’s mind is managing the tyres and keeping the rest of the grid behind him, “I think it’s going to be long, physical, and the tyres are gonna be hurting as well towards the end of their stints.”

“For me, the goal is just going to be to get off the line well and have a clean first lap and keep that clean air.”

One man who has plenty of experience of keeping the rest of the grid behind him is Drugovich who will start directly behind Sargeant on the grid.

Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited

After the first round of qualifying laps, the Brazilian found himself down the order but managed to climb back up after his second run. He opened up in the post-qualifying press conference, stating that he wasn’t quite comfortable with it in the morning Practice session.

“The car has been pretty fast the whole day. I just didn’t really feel comfortable with it. I knew the performance was there, but it was very tricky to drive it since Free Practice. I think that affected a little bit the first run. I didn’t put a lap together.”

“That also put a little bit of pressure on the second run. Luckily I managed to do a good lap and put in a P3. There’s a little bit of a taste that could have could have gotten more out of the car, but still very happy with the result.”

The MP Motorsport driver found that he couldn’t quite hook up a lap throughout all three sectors, highlighting the third sector as his strongest.

“I think Sector 3 we’ve been quite strong the whole day, but in Sector 1 for some reason, we were nowhere. I tried everything there and didn’t seem to be really fast. But anyway, I think is a compromise and we were quite far up ahead.”

With a mega forty-nine point gap to Théo Pourchaire in the championship, Drugovich almost has one hand on the championship crown already. The ART Grand Prix driver qualified in fourth position and will line-up alongside Felipe in Sunday’s Feature Race.

When asked about how aggressive he expects Pourchaire to be, Drugovich answered, “I don’t know. I shouldn’t think about this. I’ll just focus forward and there are guys in front of me and I should focus on them and try to get them.”

“Obviously, he’s going to be also thinking about the Championship. He’s got so many points. I think we just need to have a clean race.”