F1 News: Will F2 driver Jak Crawford be the next American in F1?
Ahead of the action in Monaco this weekend, Aston Martin Aramco Young American Driver and F2 star Jak Crawford discusses the start to his campaign, puts us in the cockpit for a lap around the most challenging of racetracks, and sheds light on his recent TPC running at Zandvoort with the team.
He could be the next American that makes it to F1.
Monaco. The jewel in the F1 crown. From the shimmering harbor to the iconic track layout, largely unchanged since its inception nearly 100 years ago, weaving itself around one of the world’s most glamorous locations. Truly, there is nowhere like it.
It’s the one all racing drivers want to win. A third of motorsport’s triple crown, win in Monaco and your name is written in motor racing history.
Before we go racing once more in Monte-Carlo, Jak Crawford gives us the lowdown on what it takes to attack a lap here, discusses his start to the F2 campaign, and reveals the details of his latest stint behind the wheel of an F1 car having driven at Zandvoort last week.
How do you assess your F2 season so far?
Crawford: “In a sense it felt as though I’d barely done any racing after the first few rounds. In Melbourne, we had good pace, qualifying in third, but we had an engine issue in the Sprint Race and then the Feature Race was cancelled because of bad weather.
“Then Bahrain was an unfortunate outlier for us performance-wise; we just struggled with the car and we didn’t put everything together in the races.
“But we bounced back in Jeddah. The car was great and I took pole for the Feature Race and finished P2. That was more representative of the package we have this year, and we followed that up with a win in the Sprint Race at Imola before earning more points with P6 in the Feature Race.
“I think there’s a lot of favorable tracks for us up ahead, too, so I have confidence for the upcoming rounds.
“It’s such a long season so I’ve tried to see the bigger picture and not get too down about individual results at the start of the year. So many things can happen throughout the campaign that can change the standings. If you can be the most consistent across the whole year you have a great chance of winning the title.”
Up next we’re in Monaco. How do you approach racing in the Principality?
Crawford: “Monaco is the hardest track to drive on the calendar. It’s super tight because the cars are big even in F2, and it feels very, very fast. You don’t get any rest over the lap so it’s physically and mentally tough.
“The Monaco F2 schedule is challenging as well. We only have one session per day; we drive once on Thursday, once on Friday, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. It’s particularly hard on Friday, when we do our Qualifying session, because our Free Practice session was 24 hours earlier and it’s hard to build rhythm.
“In Monaco, we have a short Qualifying session split into two groups to ease traffic issues, so we basically have three laps to try to take pole, which is quite tricky to say the least!
“You really have to be up to speed and prepared from Free Practice onwards.”
In every corner you need to be risking it all.
Put us in the cockpit. Which part of the circuit do you enjoy driving most, and what’s it like to drive?
Crawford: “I love going up the hill from Sainte Devote through Massenet and then into Casino Square.
“Massenet is really tough to get right because it’s a blind entry. You come up the hill and there’s a massive crest that you can’t really see. The car catches a bit of air when you go over it and then you enter a high-speed corner with the walls inches away. It’s super tricky to get right but it’s one of the fastest corners on the track as well so it’s a lot of fun.
“That said, the entire lap is fun to drive because you’re so on edge. In every corner you need to be risking it all, driving as close to the wall as possible. And what’s special about Monaco is there are so many little tricks you can do in each corner to gain a bit of lap-time.”
Monaco marks the second leg of the European triple-header for both F1 and F2. How do you tackle the schedule?
Crawford: “It’s an intense and fast-moving time. As soon as we finished in Imola we were immediately preparing for Monaco and it will be the same after this weekend for Barcelona. We’re very busy but the adrenaline keeps you going.
“Obviously, the most important thing is to rest well, because it’d be really easy to burn yourself out.
“Once it’s finished and I’m back home in June I’ll make sure I take some time to recharge the batteries.”
Driving different F1 cars, trying different settings and setups… is really beneficial.
You were back behind the wheel of an F1 car at Zandvoort last week, conducting a TPC day. What was involved?
Crawford: “It was my first F1 drive for the year. It was a great experience, I forgot how fast it was!
“Zandvoort is such a unique track with lots of banked corners and is incredible to drive with F1 car levels of downforce.
“The main aim of the day was for me to get familiar with driving an F1 car again and clock up some more miles behind the wheel.
“I got up to speed quickly and then I was fine tuning things with the team around my driving style and seeing what else I could explore with setup, trying to make gains throughout the day. It’s all part of my development; driving different F1 cars, trying different settings and setups, and experiencing different tracks in an F1 car is proving really beneficial to me.”