Jack Crawford was one of the few drivers who had a positive F2 Qatar GP Sprint Race, fighting his way from P15 to P8 in Saturday’s 23-lap race.
Friday’s Qualifying session left him with a tough battle as he could only many P15, but he had an impressive comeback in the race to a points-paying position. A great start saw the American up in P11 early in the race, and he was able to capitalise on other drivers’ mistakes to finish P8.
“It was a good start. I had a good first lap, I was already up to P11, and I was able to keep out of trouble and end up with one point.”
“I had a good position going into the first two corners, which meant that I found some good grip and was able to gain some positions.”
Many drivers had to manage their hard tyres during the Sprint Race, but Crawford stayed on the attack, pressuring the cars ahead while others fell back.
“It felt very fast,” he continued. “I felt like I was one of the only ones attempting to overtake in the pack. I was attacking Victor a bit, Martinius at some points, so I felt quite good, so will be interesting tomorrow with strategy.”
What went wrong in Qualifying?
Crawford noted that the key factor to his bid for Pole Position in the F2 Qatar GP Qualifying session came down to missing the window of tyres, and had nothing to do with the setup.
“Qualifying was very specific. We were quick on the first run and the second run it didn’t come together. It wasn’t about the setup, we just missed the window of the tyres. So we were able to keep to our normal race car without changing everything and it worked fine.”
With Crawford currently one of the 5 drivers still in contention for the Drivers’ Championship, he will have to fightback through the field again in the Feature Race to earn highly valuable points. He sits in P2, 21 points behind Leonardo Fornaroli, and with only the Feature Race and the season finale left, every point will be key for the Championship.
“Obviously I have to take a bit more risk at the starts and put myself in a good position,” he added. “Of course it’s difficult to pass, it would be better if we were starting at the front. But at the end of the day, all the races are the same. You try to drive as fast as you can, you try to overtake and defend the best you can.”
