It has been 5,799 days and counting since an American driver with a full-time Method One seat contested a U.S. Grand Prix. Scott Pace completed thirteenth at Indianapolis in 2007 for what was then referred to as Scuderia Toro Rosso, and it will be the final time he would see the checkered flag within the sequence earlier than dropping his journey to some child named Sebastian Vettel.
Come Sunday afternoon, when the lights exit on the Miami Grand Prix (2 p.m. ET, stream stay on ABC and ESPN+), the wait could have reached 5,804 days. It isn’t troublesome to think about, then, the expectation that surrounds — and the passion that fills — Florida-born Williams Racing rookie Logan Sargeant.
“I believe I’ve gotten a whole lot of ticket requests for Miami, and I really feel dangerous telling individuals I can not get any,” he advised ESPN final month. “I am attempting to get some for the shut family and friends, but it surely’s not as straightforward as everybody thinks.”
In between Pace and Sargeant, there was Alexander Rossi, a now-31-year-old who appeared in 5 races through the 2015 season for Manor Marussia. Ever since, the Californian has honed his craft in IndyCar, the place he has gained eight races, however he’s the uncommon American to have labored their method up the junior-formula ladder with an eye fixed on making it into F1.
Since Rossi left Europe behind (and GP2, now known as Method 2), simply two drivers from the U.S. have accomplished full seasons within the feeder sequence — Sargeant is one in all them.
The shortage of American-born prospects within the junior formulation that lead talented-enough drivers to the gates of F1 has no easy clarification. There are a number of contributing elements, although.
For a begin, up till the appearance of the Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive,” the game hasn’t been notably fashionable in