New Times ADVeRTisiNG sUPPLemeNT MIAMI RACE WEEK 2024 GUiDe May 2-8, 2024 15 M I A M I RACE W E E K “Florida 100 percent still feels like home,” says Sargeant, who grew up in nearby Fort Lauderdale. “I’m sure one day I’ll end up back there.” “If we’re going to score, it’s going be by having a perfect weekend,” says Sargeant, whose best finish this year is 14th. Sargeant is thus relieved that his next outing is in Miami, a place he says he always feels comfortable. “It’s going to be good,” the Floridian tells the Bulletin. “I think it’s been four months since I was last home. And to get home before the race to see friends and family will be nice. I’m barely ever there unfortunately. I’m home for a bit of the off-season and well, that’s really it. Even though I’m into my eighth year [of living] in London, Florida 100 percent still feels like home. I’m sure one day I’ll end up back there.” Despite the tough start to 2024, Sargeant isn’t dwelling on the negatives. “I’ve only driven three races and when I look back, it’s easy to look at negatives, but I don’t think there’s anywhere near as many as what it seems,” he insists. “I look at the race in Bahrain and it didn’t last longer than 10 laps. Saudi Arabia wasn’t too bad in the end. And in Japan, again, we had really good pace on Sunday and an opportunity to have a good result. But it just didn’t come together. So I’m definitely not going to judge my season off of only three races.” With Formula 1 garnering more coverage and more knee-jerk responses than ever before, it’s easy for a driver to get caught up in the negative noise of social media where every incident is blown up to monumental import. But Sargeant says he always tries to keep things in perspective. “At the end of the day, of course I want to go out and perform well,” he says. “But I still also need to try and have a life on the outside that can ground me a little bit. That’s super important. That comes back to just having family and friends that I can see on the off weekends. It just kind of re-centers me and I feel more ready to go at the next race.” Sargeant did just that in the wake of his Australia experience, spending the week between Melbourne and Japan on a beach in Bali. “It wasn’t a bad way to decompress,” he smiles. “Obviously coming off of a tough weekend it was nice just to be able to do something new and get in a good week of training.” That respite, the progress made since last year and the opportunities presented by the coming races leave the American racer in a positive frame of mind. “I’m happy, generally, with the pace we’ve had to start the season,” he says. “Of course, it hasn’t been smooth. The team as a whole, so far, we’ve had our issues. From a technical side, from a crashes standpoint, that set us back. But I think where I’ve started is a good step forward from the end of last year, and I can continue building on that. But most importantly, I just need to get a few clean weekends. If we do that the results will be there to be picked up.” Sargeant is ready to find his groove. “There are going to be tracks that suit us better than others for sure,” he concludes. “And we’re going to continue to see that extremely tight gap from 10th to 20th. So, if we’re going to score, it’s going be by having a perfect weekend. That’s extremely difficult to do but we’ll keep doing everything we can. And I believe within these next few races we’ll have a chance to put something good on the table. F1, GETTY IMAGES
