While Formula 2 graduate Sargent has shown impressive speed, he has also suffered a series of mishaps in his early races, with his learning curve made harder by a series of tricky streets or makeshift fields.

He crashed in qualifying in Jeddah, collided with Nick de Vries on the final restart in Australia and then missed the Baku sprint after another serious crash on the SQ1 stage of the shootout. Complete a lap fast enough to make progress.

The 22-year-old’s home race in Miami was ruined when he made contact with Lance Stroll’s rear right wheel on the first lap, causing him to stop early for a new nose and to be left alone at the back of the field for the duration of the race.

Vowles said Sargeant has speed but needs to be more consistent and not worry too much about matching up with more experienced teammate Alex Albon.

“Logan is here because he’s quick, he’s quick, he can deliver,” Vowles told Autosport. “But he has to get things under control first, to deliver cleanly.

“In both qualifying sessions in Baku, he was in Q2. That’s consistency. That’s what we’re looking for.

“What I’ve explained to him is ‘you’re fast enough’. Then, ‘Use Q2 to build your experience, almost double what you’re doing now’.”

“That’s what you’re going to start seeing him achieve. You’re going to see him slowly going up.

“I don’t expect him to keep up with Alex. He’s also playing a series of games that he hasn’t played before.

Sargeant’s Baku crash takes him out of sprint competition

Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures

“But even (in Miami), despite his disappointment, the gap between him and Alex (in the first quarter) was only three-tenths. Exactly seven cars. But three-tenths, that’s How close it is now.”

Vowles didn’t blame Sargeant for the Miami first-lap contact, emphasizing that on the plus side, he was able to use the rest of the race as an extended testing session on an empty track.

“It’s just a racing incident,” Walls said. “All that happened was the Aston Martin was parked next to it and there wasn’t enough space. But neither of them did anything wrong.”

“He thought bad was the right word, but I didn’t have that at all. As I explained to him, tell me one more time, you’ll get 50 laps where you can play with the car yourself and learn to be good and free air.

“He’s a rookie, he’s been in a few games. And the opportunity was priceless. Then he used it. If you watch his stride, he’s there or there.

“It frustrates him that he wanted a clean finish and he didn’t get it. My option is to be positive for the rest of the game.”