20-year-old American moves on to Formula One Career
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (9 December 2025) – After a frustrating outing in Qatar the previous weekend, American Formula 1 hopeful Jak Crawford closed out his FIA Formula 2 career as Vice Champion, following a big weekend in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina.
The finale was a busy one for Crawford, who in addiiton to his Formula 2 commitments, was once again tabbed for a Formula 1 Free Practice 1 appearance with Aramco Aston Martin Formula 1 team as he looks forward to his increased role for the squad in 2026.
But the dynanic schedule did nothing to disrupt his pace, as 20-year-old Texan led F2 practice, qualified second, and then placed sixth in Saturday’s Sprint Race. He then finished 10th in Sunday’s Feature Race – blasting back from an early penalty with a stunning last-to-first drive before his mandatory pit stop.
“Overall, it was a good weekend,” Crawford said. “Our goal was to finish second in the championship and try to win races. We were definitely the fastest all weekend. It was a shame not to win, but at the end of the day, I’m pretty happy to end my F2 career with second in the championship.”
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver finished the season with four victories – three in Feature Races – with two poles, eight podiums and 17 top-10 finishes, leading more laps than any other driver. He scored six triumphs in his three-year F2 career along with four poles and 19 podiums as he now heads for Formula 1 as the reserve and test driver for Aramco Aston Martin.
“I definitely learned a lot in my F2 career. I definitely developed each season and got better and better,” said Crawford. “I’m at a good level now. I’m happy with all the opportunities I’ve had so far, and I’m super happy to have my role with Aston Martin next year and super happy for the future.”
He opened the weekend by leading the sole practice session of the event. Crawford then was battling for the pole throughout the 30-minute qualifying, setting the fastest lap on four occasions but just missing out on P1 by 0.087-seconds.
“Friday was very good,” he said. “Fastest in practice, then jumping into the F1 car for free practice one, and it went well. Then jumping straight from that into F2 qualifying, and getting second. So it was a pretty good day, overall.”
With the top-10 qualifiers inverted for Saturday’s 23-lap Sprint Race, Crawford was gridded ninth and held that position for the opening 14 laps. He then made three solid passes to move up in the points – breaking a tie for second in the championship standings to gain a three-point advantage.
“It was a decent race, and we were pretty fast,” Crawford said. “I had a bad start, but then I had good speed to come through the pack a little bit at the end. I had good fun – fighting, battling and overtaking. It was a good race.”
Set to start the Feature Race on the front row, a pre-race mistake by the team on the grid cost Crawford a race-changing ten second stop and go penalty.
“There was a mistake putting on the tires, they were swapped on the opposite sides, which is not allowed,” said Crawford. “It wasn’t noticed until after the three-minute mark, so they had to change them back or I would have been disqualified. It was unfortunate to have that happen, for sure. I had to take a 10-second stop-and-go penalty at the start of the race, but luckily, we had the safety car that brought us back into the race.”
Last in the field, Crawford drove through the pack to take the lead with three laps remaining. Starting the race on an alternate strategy – saving the softer tires until the end – he made his mandatory pit stop to change tires with two laps left. Returning to the race in 11th, Crawford took 10th on the final turn of the final lap – setting the fastest race lap in the process.
“I definitely had a lot of fun,” he recalled. “It definitely looked like we had the fastest car out there – which was a good sign. It’s a shame that we weren’t able to fight for the win, because our speed was definitely the best out there for the entire race. It was good to get two more points on the board [on the final lap]. It was definitely unfortunate, but it was one of my best in Formula 2.”
The weekend was a welcome points-gathering one for Crawford, who was left frustrated from the previous event in Qatar, which saw a safety car restart procedure that cost him significant time and track position after the race went back to green before the field had caught the safety car. In both the feature and sprint races, Crawford had made significant progress through the field, but frustratingly did not take points home to show for it.
Crawford will remain in Abu Dhabi for the young drivers test on Tuesday, and then he will get time to visit his family in Texas. He then will return to his new home in Silverstone, England, preparing for the 2026 season.
