Heading into the F2 Abu Dhabi weekend, Jak Crawford sits second in the Drivers’ Standings as Leo Fornaroli was crowned F2 Champion last race weekend. With 170 points, the DAMS Lucas Oil driver will look to secure a P2.
Ahead of the Abu Dhabi weekend, Crawford was asked about himself and DAMS coming up short in the title fight. In the press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, Crawford expressed:
“First of all, Leo [Fornaroli] has done a great season. So in ways, it’s hard to beat when the team and Leo have done a great job. Anyways, even at our best, it would have been very difficult still. I feel like we just missed a little bit, I feel like the Invicta were the most consistent team, especially when it came to qualifying.
“I feel like me, Richard [Verschoor] and Luke [Browning], we were all a bit inconsistent and I think it comes down to a bit, the car, and kind of the new car that we’ve had since last year. It’s more tricky to get into the window. The tyres always have been very tricky to get in the correct window. So I think, those two things, if you’re not getting it right every time, you pay the price. There were a couple of times this year where we just didn’t get it right, whether it was on the car setup or on the tyres.”
Biggest learnings over the F2 years
After 2 years in Formula 3, Crawford made the step up to F2 in 2023. The American spent his first campaign with Hitech Pulse-Eight before switching to DAMS Lucas Oil in 2024. After his second campaign with the team, his Formula 2 days look to be behind him. When asked about the biggest learnings over the last years and competing in F2, the American expressed:
“I really enjoyed my time in Formula 2. It was great for leaning for me. I feel like when I came out of F3, I still hadn’t quite learned that much. I was still very, let’s say, raw, driving on instinct. Especially in my first year of F2, I felt like I didn’t have a lot of knowledge. And I feel like just over time, working with Hitech in my first year and DAMS these past two years, in F2 I was really able to further my understanding. If I had this level of understanding my first year, first or second year, it would have been a lot better. So for sure, the things I’ve learned over time is great and I feel almost kind of lucky in a way that I’ve done a couple of years, because I feel very prepared.
“I feel like I’ve seen a lot, I’ve been through a lot compared to some other people who have just done rookie seasons in F3 and then rookie season in F2. Of course, it’s great results, but maybe you miss a bit of learning. I really had a lot of time to learn and understand a lot of the things that happen in motorsport, especially in F2, which is such a close category. It can always come down to little things. We spend so much time trying to find little things. I’ve really enjoyed the championship. The racing has been great, I would always say that’s the best part of F2, it’s always good racing.“
Bouncing back and clinching P2
The DAMS driver has had a roller coaster of a year. Still, this looks to be his best season in Formula 2. Despite setbacks such as a DNF in Jeddah, and incidents throughout, the 20-year-old has proved his skills with a strong season.
Speaking about the DNF in Bahrain and his ups and downs throughout the season, Crawford stated:
“Back in Bahrain, we had no points. It was a weekend where we expected to be very strong. We thought we would have a good car that weekend and everything just went wrong. I had mechanical issues, I had slow pit stops, and on top of that we didn’t have much pace. So it was overall a just bad weekend, but of course I drove for the team last season and we knew we were fast.
“We knew we had the potential and it was just about kind of resetting everyone, whether it was the team, myself, all my engineers, my mechanics. We were able to come to Jeddah with forgetting all this, all that happened in just a week, we were able to do a great job in qualifying, and qualifying is key in F2. Once I had a good qualifying, then it was a good weekend in Jeddah.“
As Crawford stated, Qualifying is immensely important in F2. In a racing category where everyone is close, qualifying position becomes all the more important.
“And then for this weekend, obviously trying to get second in the championship. I think it all comes down to having a good qualifying session, and that’s it. You need a good qualifying session and then you kind of just do the races and you see where you end up. Of course, you’re going to do your best.” Crawford added about his approach to Abu Dhabi.
Turning point of the season
When asked by Pit Debrief what his strongest weekend was and if there was a turning point that significantly changed his momentum, Crawford responded:
“I think the turning point of the year was definitely in Jeddah. I was able to be very strong after that I would say. There were a couple of moments that stand out, I think I had some great weekends. I mean, I don’t even know which one is my favorite – the Budapest weekend, Silverstone weekend, or Baku weekend.
“I would have to say Baku was definitely my strongest. Just because that’s the one place we didn’t expect to be strong. Normally, the setup of our car is not very suited to there, so we kind of guessed on the car setup in a way, and we got it right. It was a great weekend with pole and the win. And a good practice, and a good sprint race, so that was overall my best weekend. Jeddah was kind of the turning point when we were able to start turning things around.“
Baku was definitely an amazing weekend for the F2 driver. Securing his second pole of the season and storming to victory in the feature race makes it a strong outing for the 20-year-old.
Formula E and future options
With more and more drivers turning to Formula E, Crawford was asked if this would be a route he would consider taking if the opportunity presented itself.
“Yeah for sure. I mean the opportunity already came and I turned it down so I’m not at the moment, looking to get into Formula E. At the moment, I’m focused on F1. That doesn’t mean in the future, if nothing in F1 ever comes up, that Formula E is not an option. I think Formula E is very interesting and they have a good future for the series. With the changing car, it’s always developing. So yeah, Formula E is definitely an option in the future, but not for the moment.”
As the driver is currently focused on chasing his F1 dream, he will not be switching categories anytime soon. However, he is still open to the idea of FE in the future. Several of his former competitors, such as Pepe Marti, have turned to Formula E after their time in F2. The series is attracting more and more talent as they develop.
When asked about the setup changes and race pace in Barcelona where DAMS looked immensely quick, Crawford expressed:
“I would say Barcelona, I feel like it suits the car perfectly, what we do in the race. So we had it already last year where they’re very strong on race pace in Barcelona and the same this year. I feel like the high-speed nature of the track, along with the roughness, that’s two things that suit our car in the race typically. That combo is usually where we’re really looking forward to the races in Barcelona because we know we can have two strong races.”
FP1 in an F1 car
Lastly, the DAMS driver was asked about getting back behind the wheel of the F1 Aston Martin car in Abu Dhabi and adjusting from F2 to F1. As the young driver will be taking Lance Stroll’s car for the FP1 session, he remains immensely excited.
“I’m very looking forward to it, the opportunity again to get back on track. I enjoy every lap in the F1 car so we’re looking forward to it tomorrow. I’m also excited for the whole day because I jump out of the F2 car, practice, go to the F1 paddock, do my meetings, have my FP1 and run back to the F2 paddock for qualifying. I think that’s quite exciting. I haven’t done the direct day-to-day change from the F1 to the F2 car before, but last year during the testing, I did the Tuesday test to the Wednesday test which was kind of similar.
“The best way to adapt is just to keep the references the same, so I have my F1 reference points, my F2 reference points. In that case, it’s better to start driving off of references instead of driving off of instinct because if you were to drive off of instinct in F2 after being in a session for F1, you might be a bit all over the place. I’m just going to follow my references and I’ll just adapt from there.”
His next step for 2026 is to be Aston Martin’s third driver for the F1 season.
