Crawford Cements his Championship Run at Barcelona

Late safety cars negate Sprint dominance, late-race opportunity in Feature

BARCELONA (2 June 2025) – American Formula 1 hopeful Jak Crawford put together back-to-back fourth-place finishes in Round 6 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, in a weekend that saw late caution periods negate opportunities for even better finishes.

The 20-year-old Texan dominated Saturday’s Sprint Race, leading 19 of the 26 laps before a late caution allowed drivers back in the pack to pit for fresh soft tires.

Sunday, the DAMS Lucas Oil team opted for an alternate strategy, with Crawford leading the competitors starting on the harder tires. He led seven laps before pitting for soft tires with 14 laps remaining and worked his way from 14th to fourth. He was in striking distance of the second- and third-place cars when a full-course caution froze the field for the final three laps.

“It was still very good points, but we could have come away with a first and a second,” Crawford said.

Earning points for the seventh-consecutive race, Crawford moved to a tie for fourth in the championship, just 14 points in arrears.

“The last few races have been really good,” said Crawford, coming off a Feature Race triumph at Monaco. “I climbed up the standings and I’m close to the top.”

Crawford was 12th in Friday morning practice, and he qualified seventh after running fourth in the opening half of the 30-minute session. He got up to third in the final two minutes, only to slip back to seventh as other competitors bettered his time on their final lap.

“Practice was OK, we just missed the window, but practice isn’t very important here,” he said. “In qualifying, we had a good first run and I thought we could be in contention for the front row, but we just missed it on the second run. I barely improved on my lap time.”

Starting fourth for Saturday’s Sprint Race, he needed only five laps to put the No. 11 DAMS Lucas Oil entry into the lead. He raced past two competitors to take second in Turn 1, and then used a bold move to the outside on the fourth lap to take the lead.

“My strategy was to play the long game,” Crawford admitted. “I had a great start off the line, getting into second. I then saw an opportunity to take the lead, so I took it. I hadn’t planned to be out front so early in the race.”

Crawford then managed his lead, twice setting fastest race lap, and was running without a serious challenge before an incident on lap 18 set up a brief safety car intervention. Several drivers back in the pack took advantage of the yellow to pit for soft-compound tires, and they took advantage of the faster rubber to move through the field during a six-lap dash to the checkered flag. For the second time this season (a driver used a similar strategy to beat him on the final lap at Jeddah), Crawford was a sitting duck. He was passed by three cars during the final three laps as his worn, harder tires were no match for the fresh soft tires.

“I was controlling the race, and I think was definitely going to take the win,” he said. “I had a lot of pace on hand. Then the safety car came out. It was a tough decision to take from the lead, because you never know what’s going to happen with the softer tires. But fourth was much better than most people expected, and unfortunately, I lost out at the end.”

Sunday saw Crawford start on an alternate tire strategy, saving his softer compound for late in the race. The strategy cycled him into the lead and he once again was out front, pacing seven circuits before pitting with 14 laps remaining. He rejoined the race in 14th position, and charged through the field to challenge the second- and third-place cars before a safety car froze the field for the final three circuits.

“We had an opportunity to go on an alternate strategy, so we took it,” he said. “It was a great first stint, but it was hard to tell how we were going to come out. But I came out and had an opportunity to get myself into the mix. Then I saw an opportunity to finish second, and it was unfortunate to have the safety car just as I was going into that battle.”

After three consecutive weekends of competition, Crawford now gets a three-week F2 break before the next events, June 28-29 at Austria’s Red Bull and then July 5-6 at Silverstone, England. Before those races, he will do some testing with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team in Monza.

“I love both of the tracks coming up,” said Crawford, who scored his first F2 victory at Red Bull Ring in 2023 and placed third in last year’s Feature Race at Silverstone. “I’ve won at Austria before and have had great results, and it’s a track I really like. It really suits me quite a bit, and I’m looking forward to it. I live 20 minutes from Silverstone, so it’s like my ‘second home’ race.”