PART III
Reaching the Summit
Formula One driver Logan Sargeant, left, and IndyCar driver Colton Herta. (Photos by Sean Gardner/Getty, Jae C. Hong/AP and Quinn Rooney/Getty)
A year after Red Bull launched its junior program, the team in 2002 organized the Red Bull Driver Search to identify American drivers to add to its academy. Michael Andretti in 1993 had been the last American to race on the F1 grid, and Red Bull wanted to find the next.
Following a contentious selection process, four finalists were chosen, but after four years, just one, Scott Speed, made it onto the grid when he raced for Toro Rosso (now called AlphaTauri) in 2006 and 2007.
One hundred fifty-four Americans preceded Speed on the grid — a number inflated by the Indianapolis 500’s inclusion in the F1 season from 1950 to 1960. Of that group, Phil Hill is the only American-born F1 champion, having won the 1961 drivers’ title with Ferrari. Italy-born Mario Andretti won the 1978 crown with now-defunct Lotus. Andretti’s son, Michael, racing for McLaren, was the last before Speed. After two seasons, Vettel replaced Speed at Toro Rosso, and eight years passed before another American, Alexander Rossi in 2015, raced in F1.
American drivers in Formula One
Since the start of F1 in 1950, 157 American drivers have competed in at least one race.
The Indianapolis 500 was included in the F1 schedule from 1950 to 1960.
Since 1990, there have been just four American drivers
Michael Andretti
Scott Speed
Alexander Rossi
Logan Sargeant
Sources: formula1.com and ergast.com
American drivers in Formula One
Since the start of F1 in 1950, 157 American drivers have competed in at least one race.
The Indianapolis 500 was included in the F1 schedule from 1950 to 1960.
Since 1990, there have been just four American drivers
Logan
Sargeant
Michael
Andretti
Scott
Speed
Alexander
Rossi
Sources: formula1.com and ergast.com
IndyCar driver Colton Herta was expected to end the most recent American drought ahead of this season, but he stumbled at the final hurdle: the super license points system. Drivers must earn a “super license” from the FIA, Formula One’s governing body; that license is earned by accumulating points along the path to F1 — among other requirements. Drivers must earn at least 40 points, and those points are awarded based on how drivers perform in lower-tier series, with point allocation favoring FIA-sanctioned competitions over outside series such as IndyCar. The system, introduced in the 1990s, disincentivizes F1 hopefuls from competing outside of Europe.
“The reason why I think there have been such long gaps of having U.S. drivers on the grid is because of the way that F1 works in terms of having its own ladder system,” said Rossi, who along with Speed climbed that developmental ladder. “It’s got its own feeder series, and you have to go through those steps.”
Herta, 23, took a less conventional route to try to break into F1. He graduated from karting to European F4 and F3 circuits, but his path diverged in 2017, when he returned to the United States, citing his desire to compete in IndyCar.
Herta raced in a second-tier IndyCar series then-called IndyLights for a team co-owned by Michael Andretti and in 2019 moved up to IndyCar, in which he finished as high as third in the 2020 season. As Herta competed in the United States, Andretti led a bid to buy a controlling stake in Sauber, which operates F1’s Alfa Romeo team. He planned to rebrand the team and insert Herta as one of its drivers, but the deal fell through in 2021.
[Colton Herta was poised to become F1′s only U.S. driver. What happened?]
Red Bull in 2022 explored signing Herta as an AlphaTauri driver for the 2023 season (the energy drink company owns Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri), but the California native finished 10th in the IndyCar standings, leaving him eight points shy of the required 40 to get a super license. Red Bull sought an exemption from the FIA, but its request was denied and the team abandoned efforts to bring Herta to F1 in September.
“It’s very difficult,” Rossi said of the path to F1. “It’s not that Americans don’t have the skills or the ability. It takes a lot for a driver and a family to make that sacrifice to go over to Europe and kind of start a new life. In the past 20 years, it’s been Scott, myself and now Logan, right? So there’s been a lot of failures in that time period.”
LEFT: After missing out on a chance to race in Formula One, Colton Herta signed a four-year contract extension with Andretti Autosport that ties him to the IndyCar team through 2027. (Michael Conroy/AP) RIGHT: Logan Sargeant is 19th out of 20 drivers in the standings. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Shortly after the Herta disappointment, Sargeant, a Florida native who came up through the European system, emerged as the next likely American on the grid.
In October, former Williams team principal Jost Capito said the team would promote Sargeant from its academy ahead of the 2023 season if he obtained the necessary super license points. That required Sargeant to earn a strong finish in the final race of the 2022 F2 season, and he did, clinching the necessary points with a fourth-place finish in the final standings.
“Being the first American in a while is honestly such a privilege” Sargeant said in February. “A great opportunity to represent my country to the best of my ability.”
Before the super license drama, financial issues nearly derailed Sargeant’s journey to F1. Sargeant moved to Europe at 12 to pursue an F1 career. Seven years later, he finished third in the 2020 F3 season, but five months after its conclusion, he couldn’t find backing for the upcoming F2 campaign. His F1 dreams were “dead in the water,” and he considered returning to the United States to race in IndyLights.
“F2 is definitely ruled out for 2021,” he told motorsports site Racer at the time. “The problem with F2 is the funding for it is very high, as we know. … If anything I think it has actually gone up a little bit, so that’s made it really difficult.”
Later that year, he secured a seat with F3’s Charouz, and in October 2021 Williams signed him to its academy roster, resuscitating his dreams. Sargeant advanced to F2 in 2022, and Williams positioned him to secure the F1 seat by season’s end.
Now in Formula One, Sargeant will make an estimated $1 million to compete for Williams this year, according to Spotrac. Racing for a team that finished last in 2022, Sargeant has finished as high as 12th this season as he continues to grow in his new role.
Reaching F1 offers no guarantees of success, though.
A team and the competitiveness of the cars it produces can propel a driver into the title hunt or doom them to a career in the middle of the pack. But for some American drivers, reaching and competing at the top is a huge part of the journey. For some drivers, that is the goal.
“Getting to race in F1, it’s the pinnacle,” Rossi said. “It’s the best of the best for a lot of different reasons. So getting to do that was the goal. And in some respects, I kind of accomplished the dream I had at 10 years old.”
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