Logan Sargeant says that he’s looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the FW45 this weekend after having a “good feeling” during an initial shakedown run earlier this month.
Williams’ official launch for 2023 featured only its livery for the upcoming year, before the car broke cover several days letter during a Silverstone demo run.
It marked Sargeant’s first time in the car, with team-mate Alexander Albon also having time behind the wheel.
Sargeant will be back in the FW45 during the afternoon session on Thursday, the first day of pre-season testing from Bahrain.
“I’m super excited for testing in Bahrain,” Sargeant said. “We already had a good feeling in the car at the rollout in Silverstone.
“I’m really looking forward to diving deeper into what the car is capable of and also getting more comfortable with it from my side.
“Bahrain is a track that I know well so that brings me confidence going into the test. Hopefully that’ll put us in a good spot ahead of the first race of the season.
“We’re going to try and make everyone’s efforts and hard work over the winter pay off.”
Sargeant will have Friday to himself, driving both the morning and afternoon session before Albon takes over on Saturday.
Since the launch of the car, James Vowles has officially started his role as Williams’ Team Principal – a situation that excites Albon.
“It’s great to be here in Bahrain ahead of pre-season testing, also knowing we now officially have James [Vowles] on board,” Albon said.
“We had our rollout at Silverstone last week – which was great to get those first laps in – and whilst the conditions at Silverstone are completely different, getting those laps under our belts is still important.
“Now we’re here in Bahrain for proper testing, we’ll need to adjust to the different conditions, with 1.5 days each to get comfortable with the car.
“Ultimately, it’s not much, so we need to be proactive in getting the car in a decent place as quickly as possible, which I think we did a good job at last year.
“Hopefully we have a better base to build off this season, however it’s difficult to comment on at this stage.”
