Jak Crawford once again showed his strength around the streets of Baku, charging from 10th on the grid to finish just shy of the podium in Saturday’s F2’s Sprint Race.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver, who had taken pole in Friday’s chaotic Qualifying session, knew the reverse-grid format would make life difficult. But after a clean start and carefully judged overtakes, he emerged in fourth place — a result he described as “very pleasing” despite tricky conditions.
“Very pleased but very tricky,” Crawford admitted. “The colder conditions today and a little bit of drizzle made it a little bit tough on the restarts and obviously the race start. I feel like once you survive the race starts you get into a rhythm, and if you can survive those moments at the restarts, you can survive the race.”
Biding his time
Crawford’s measured approach during the F2 Sprint Race in Baku, helped him climb steadily through the pack. He dispatched Leonardo Fornaroli on Lap 7 before picking off Gabriele Minì late on. The American explained that patience and clean driving were central to his progress during the.
“There are lots of opportunities at this track just by keeping it clean,” he said. “I was able to attack when some others were getting into fights.”
He continued, “I saw some moments with Fornaroli when he was in a fight and then with Minì when he was in a fight right after I was able to overtake him. I was just biding my time and eventually I could make my way up.”
While Alex Dunne ultimately held him off for the final podium spot, Crawford felt the result reflected a strong drive, especially given the challenges of tyre wear and changing grip levels.
“It was definitely fun though,” he said. “The conditions were not easy, they were a lot different to yesterday so we had to drive a little bit different. Obviously, we are in a race condition so we have to deal with tyre wear. It became a little bit tricker than the past few days to drive, everyone was pretty sensible to be honest, no one was making huge mistakes, everyone was taking it easy before pushing on the last five laps.”
Focus on the Feature
Crawford’s reward for Friday’s pole lap is a front-row start in the Feature Race. For him, the biggest takeaway from the Sprint was the importance of clean air — something Saturday’s winner Dino Beganovic made full use of.
“We have a lot of good stuff,” Crawford explained. “I think clean air is crucial, as we saw with Dino today. Everyone else seemed to struggle after battling and fighting, so clean air will be crucial, and having that will be the best position to be in.”
“You have good tyres, you are in the lead and you are able to do your own race. That is what we need to find. From the car side, I think we have some good stuff today, we are already quite quick, so it will be about fixing small things.”
With a clear track ahead of him for the Feature Race, Crawford knows he has every chance of turning that knowledge into a shot at victory.
