Before the Belgian GP, F2 driver Jak Crawford spoke to the media, including LWOS, about his season so far and his goals coming at Spa.
2024 is the second year for Jak Crawford in F2 and it did not start in the best way. The young American, who had joined the Red Bull program in 2020, was forced to leave. He is now part of the Aston Martin program. The team of Milton Keyes, which also included Zane Maloney, Enzo Fittipaldi, and Dennis Hauger until 2023, decided to reduce the number of its drivers. Crawford had joined the team when he was still racing in Italian Formula 4. In 2022 he ran his second season of Formula 3 with Prema alongside teammate Oliver Bearman.
In 2023 he made his Formula 2 debut with Hitech. Despite having a difficult season, he managed to get a win in the Sprint Race at the Red Bull Ring. This year, Jak changed teams to race with DAMS together with Juan Manuel Correa. His second season in Formula 2 started both positively and negatively. The American got second place in the Sprint Race. However, on Sunday he was forced to retire due to a technical problem. From Bahrain, there was a time when he climbed the highest step: in the Feature Race of the Spanish GP. In Cataluna, the DAMS team collected a 1-2 with Crawford and Correa, and the race was won by the American from North Carolina.
This year, Jak thinks he has made some improvements in terms of performance in the car. The reasons are several:
“I think, first of all, the second season helps. I have a bit more experience knowing what to expect from every track, the car and the tires, and stuff like that. That is definitely a big help as well. I’d say the team as well, I switched to DAMS and that’s been a big help and sort of personal growth. On the technical side, I understand more about the car and how it needs to be driven. I feel like I’ve always been fast and this year I’ve just been able to put it more together across every race.”
Crawford is currently in seventh position in the F2 championship, just one point behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
A season of ups and downs for Crawford in F2
A very peculiar feature of the championship this year is the change in the hierarchies on track. Formula 2, compared to Formula 1, has always been less predictable and full of surprises. It is also because it is a spec-series therefore the team’s true skill lies in finding the most talented drivers, but it is not only that. Teams can modify some aspects of the car (not the chassis or other basic components) and work on the balance to find the right pace.
This year, with the new car, the cards on the table seem to have changed and even those teams, like Prema and Art Grand Prix, who were famous for their many resources and their skills, found a new car to work with. With the new Dallara F2 2024, Prema and Art Grand Prix seem to have found more difficulties while for others, who have always been a little in the shadows but still have always brought good results, it was easier to find the performance right away. Regarding the 2024 F2 championship, Crawford said:
“You always have to be there, as we saw with Paul [Aron] in the first half of the season. He hasn’t even won a race, but he’s still high up in the championship just by being there, being consistent, and being fast. That’s the key to this championship”
Being fast is not the only reason that brings you to success in Motorsport:
“And you know, you can be fast, but if you’re not consistent, if you’re not performing, then it’s not going to go your way. It’s exactly kind of what happened to me in Budapest, where I qualified at the back, scored zero points, and it feels like I’ve lost a lot of points. It’ll be about keeping it consistent and clean in all conditions and trying to maximize each weekend.”
Jak Crawford was first to the flag in the Barcelona Feature!
He became our tenth different winner of 2024 🔟#F2 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/zcTtWWwGGK
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) July 12, 2024
The goal at Spa
At Spa, after a weekend without points, the goal for F2 driver Jak Crawford is clear. Redeem yourself and try to get the most out of the race before the summer break. Last year’s Belgium weekend was unlucky for him but this year things could be different. The American had a good weekend at Silverstone. He collected a sixth place in the wet and a third post in the dry race on Sunday. Spa is a circuit that, especially for the types of turns, recalls Silverstone, and the weather conditions in qualifying and on Sunday could be very similar to those faced in Great Britain:
“It’s a very good track for me and the team. We performed well at similar tracks like Jeddah, Barcelona, and Silverstone and yeah, the conditions are very similar to Silverstone this weekend. So we’ll have a good package for sure and it’ll just be about putting it together. I feel quite good for the weekend, we know what kind of issues we had in Budapest and we know we won’t run into those here in Belgium. Obviously, I don’t want to set my expectations too high but from my side, qualifying in the top 10, I know we can fight for the podium on Sunday.”
