Surprise F1 name announces new racing deal at Red Bull launch

Former F1 driver Logan Sargeant revealed that he has a new racing role at the Red Bull season launch event in Detroit last night.

Sargeant raced in F1 for the entirety of the 2023 season, before being dropped midway through 2024 by his Williams team, who took on rookie Franco Colapinto instead.

The American racer only scored one point in 36 grands prix weekends across the two seasons, and has not been linked with a return to the F1 grid since then.

Sargeant has been, however, racing in the IMSA Sportscar Championship, and is set to return to that series in 2026 too.

But alongside that role, Sargeant revealed at the Ford season launch event, where both Red Bull and Racing Bulls' 2026 F1 cars were unveiled as part of Ford's new partnership with Red Bull, that he has taken on a role with Ford Racing.

Sargeant has become a factory driver with Ford, the same brand with whom another former F1 star in Daniel Ricciardo is working with as an ambassador.

"I'm now a factory driver for Ford," Sargeant revealed in an interview with CBS at the event. "So that feels pretty good, I'm excited to be here.

"I'm looking forward to it, we have a long year of development for sure, at some point down the road this year we're going to get to drive it [Ford hypercar prototype] for real, and in the time being just working alongside the team to help as much as I can to get that car ready to go and doing some racing alongside that."

Ford's new Red Bull partnership

Ford powertrains have been helping Red Bull in their ambition to become a works team in 2026, heading into a new era of power unit production.

Red Bull dropped their partnership with Honda and have instead been working with Ford to prepare for next year, amid new regulations sweeping into the sport.

Ford's commitment to F1 seems to be solid, with Mark Rushbrook recently saying that they won't be put off working with Red Bull even if Max Verstappen opts to leave the team in the years to come.

It is, however, unlikely that this new partnership between himself and Ford is going to yield an F1 opportunity with Red Bull for Sargeant, who was let go by Williams after just one point was scored from almost two full seasons.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen exit clause change puts pressure on Red Bull

Related