Driver Academy report: Livin’ la vida Logan

Logan Sargeant brought home the silverware for Williams Racing this weekend after excelling on the streets of Baku.

Our American Academy driver secured his best-ever finish so far in Formula 2 and, in doing so, reached the podium for the second time this season.

Logan's P2 came in Sunday's F2 Feature Race, while Roy Nissany narrowly missed out on points in Saturday's Sprint. Ollie Gray was also in action and returned to P2 in the British F4 championship table after three consistent races at Oulton Park.

A second-row start for Saturday's reverse grid race meant Logan had his eye on another Sprint Race podium following his success in Spain. Firm but fair fighting with Richard Verschoor on the opening lap had Logan remain in P4, before he then reached P3 after overtaking Jake Hughes down the long start-finish straight a few laps later.

Although the usual Baku bedlam didn't feature in the race's first half, three Safety Car periods punctuated the latter. Logan somehow avoided significant damage on the first restart when he locked up into Turn 1 and hit the back of Marcus Armstrong's car. He would eventually finish in P6.

Although the Feature Race had Logan starting further back than in the Sprint Race, he immediately made an impression by jumping from P7 to P5 in the opening corners, passing championship leader Felipe Drugovich in the process.

After that, the 21-year-old kept his head down through another race filled with incidents, first gaining a place in the pit stops and then overtaking Armstrong after a Safety Car restart to run in a net P3.

As the laps ticked down, the importance of Logan's concentration in the stop-start race became apparent as race leader Jüri Vips crashed out by himself, promoting Logan to P2.

The resulting Safety Car ran until the chequered flag, preventing the American from attacking for the win, but he was still visibly delighted with his P2 finish that raises him to sit fourth in the championship standings – the top rookie in the field.

Another unfortunate case of close, but not close enough, befell Roy in Baku. The Israeli repeated his Monaco weekend by taking a top ten finish in the Sprint Race, where only the top eight score points.

A P14 qualifying result meant the DAMS driver always faced an uphill weekend. Nonetheless, Roy moved through the order on the first lap of the Sprint Race to sit in P13 and kept out of trouble through the opening phase. However, a Turn 1 lock-up on Lap 12 while overtaking Jake Hughes saw Roy using the run-off, but he fell to P19 once he rejoined.

Unphased by this error, the 27-year-old drew upon his experience in the late drama which saw three race restarts, advancing to P10 while others crashed and fell behind.

Roy's remarkable starting prowess reappeared on Sunday in the Feature Race, where he jumped up the field to reach P11 over the opening lap. The impressive getaway even had one competitor radio his team to complain, believing the Williams Academy driver had jumped the start, but the replays showed otherwise.

Sadly, Roy's weekend ended early after he collided with Cem Bölükbaşı after the Israeli tried to make the most of his recently equipped Pirelli tyres. Unfortunately, the pair found that there is not much room on the exit of Turn 2, and both drivers hit the barriers and were unable to continue.

It's back to P2 in the championship for Ollie, despite a relatively subdued weekend at Oulton Park compared to his usual silverware-collecting ways. A P5 in qualifying meant the teenager had to keep his wits about him to stay out of trouble in the midfield while still looking to advance from his third-row slot.

In the weekend's first and third races, Ollie ended in P6, one place down from his starting position. However, he was able to keep his car on the road in both races, unlike his teammate and championship rival Ugo Ugochukwu who fell to the back in Race 1 after running off track.

Ugochukwu started Race 3 from the last row, too, after a disappointing qualifying and couldn't come close to Ollie's P6 finish, further aiding our teenager's championship fight.

Race 2 had Ollie's highest finish of his weekend. The Carlin driver took P4 after a P6 start. Ugochukwu began in P4, and the pair advanced to battle for third place throughout the 20-minute session. The two drivers were inseparable as they crossed the line, and Ollie missed a podium finish by just half a second.

The run of podium finishes each round might have ended, but Ollie's consistency saw him leave Cheshire with 26 points – just one shy of his Thruxton tally last time out. He now reclaims P2 in the championship, leapfrogging Ugochukwu and claiming a slender 3-point advantage.

Logan and Roy now have a few weekends off before Silverstone begins a four-race month in July, while Ollie will be back in the cockpit at Croft on June 24-26 when British F4 returns.