Jak Crawford on why 2025 could finally be his year in Formula 2

Year one brought a maiden Sprint victory, year two a first Feature Race top step, so what does year three in Formula 2 hold for Jak Crawford? He has no doubts about what he’s aiming for this time around.

“Last year was already a good year, taking a win and some podiums and ending fifth in the Championship,” the DAMS Lucas Oil driver said ahead of the season. “The goal was to win the Championship, so now I’m excited to get back this time and see what I can do.

“I’m super excited for the season, now in my third year of F2 and it’s gone super quick. I feel like I was only in my rookie year last year, so it’s gone by quickly.”

While he feels experienced, Crawford is still one of the youngest drivers on the grid at 19-years-old. With two years-worth of experience in F2 now under his belt, the American driver believes that he has all he needs to fight for the title in 2025.

“I just want to build on what we had last year and just fix the little things that went wrong"

He added that all that’s left is to tweak smaller details that add up in the bigger picture.

“I don’t know how much more there is to step up, to be honest. I already felt at quite a good level last year and it’s just about fine tuning some things as well as working better with the team.

“I think if I can fine tune myself a bit more as a driver find that extra tenth at every track and making sure we’re on top of the tyres, then I’ll be in a good position for the races this year.”

Crawford moved to DAMS ahead of the 2024 campaign and enjoyed a positive year, finishing fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, but there was an air of opportunities missed as he reflected on the campaign.

In particular, it was on Fridays where he felt he and the team could have made more of an impact, and going into the new season, Qualifying will be a big point of emphasis for the French squad.

“I think the new car made a bit of a difference. We saw the change in the order, some teams struggled a bit to get used to the car and it created some inconsistencies, at least for us.

“If we can get on top of the car a little bit more – of course all teams are making steps with the car especially since it’s still kind of new.

“Qualifying was the main area, I think almost every time we qualified in the top 10, we were getting good results, winning races or getting on the podium in the Feature Race. That’s the goal, because qualifying well puts us in a good spot for Sunday when the major points are on offer.

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“So, it will be really important qualifying sessions this year, to put things in our hands more, iron out some mistakes that we need to fix and that would be good.”

One thing that will be new for Crawford is the experience of remaining with the same team from one season to the next.

2025 will be the first time in his career that he has remained at the team he raced with the year prior, continuity he hopes will pay dividends by the end of the campaign.

Once more, it means there are just final details that need ironing out rather than a learning curve to overcome with a new outfit.

“This is actually the first year that I’ve gone back to the same team two years in a row in motorsport. So, I’m happy to be back with them and I enjoyed last year a lot with DAMS.

“I just want to build on what we had last year and just fix the little things that went wrong because we were already quite competitive.

“If we can fix those little things then we can still be just as competitive but with even more consistency.

“Looking back, it was a bit annoying that we couldn’t always get it right or we just missed a little bit of something, but for sure it is very exciting. It gives me the chance to change things and fix the little things that went wrong before.

While Crawford exuded confidence about the upcoming season and what’s to come along with excitement about being back racing, he is ultimately hoping for a boring year.

Winning every race is on the agenda for the American, though with a more realistic frame of mind, he believes he will be well placed to fight for the biggest prizes whatever happens.

“I hope not! Ideally, I want to win all the poles and the races but realistically, I feel and expect that I should be at the front. I was already at the front a lot last year, so continuing that with all the people at this team. All the drivers that finished higher in the Championship than me last year aren’t here, so I have those shoes to fill.”