Racing driver and F2 commentator Alex Brundle hopes that Logan Sargeant is afforded time to bed into the F1 paddock in his rookie season, with the American making the step up from Formula 2 in 2023.

Sargeant partners Alex Albon this season at Williams as the two drivers look to close the gap up between the Grove-based team and the lower midfield that presented itself clearly in 2022.

Testing appeared to go positively for the team, though, and hopes will be that they are competitive this weekend as the new F1 season kicks off in Bahrain.

Speaking to Give Me Sport exclusively, Brundle assessed Sargeant’s prospects for the year ahead and asserted the belief that we will see him impress once up to speed this season - though that might take a few races naturally and in the meantime he hopes the critics do not mount.

“He's a very interesting, capable driver that has demonstrated his ability and I think he will benefit from the large supportive team around him,” said Brundle.

“I was very interested in the way he handled the final race weekend in Abu Dhabi [in F2 last season] with the pressure of having to achieve the super licence points he needed to make it through to Formula 1. He held it together but you could see the pressure weighing with Logan.

“I feel like he will demonstrate his talent mid-year. I think it will take him potentially a few races to settle down and then once he settled, the results will start to come. What I really hope for him is that the world of Formula 1 doesn't eat him up before he's had the opportunity to settle as we've seen with other drivers.

"I think Logan is a very capable driver and I hope the audience at large and the F1 paddock don't, if he has a couple of early wobbles with the pressure, go on a witch hunt for him. In my mind, he absolutely deserves to be sitting in the car and on the grid and I think he will do an extremely capable job for Williams this year.”

It's always intriguing seeing a new driver get to grips with F1 and Sargeant will be itching to get racing this weekend in Bahrain.

You can keep up to date with all the latest F1 news, rumours and results right here at Give Me Sport.