Two days ago, DAMS Lucas Oil confirmed that Jak Crawford remains one of their drivers for next season. Since December 2023, he is part of the Aston Martin Driver Development Programme and hopes to be the next Formula 1 driver from the United States.
The 19-year-old currently sits in fifth place in the Driver Standings with 116 points to his name. Over the course of this year, he was able to make his debut in a Formula 1 car, when testing the Aston Martin AMR22 around the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Crawford targets 2026 as his debut year in F1.
“I have found a great new home at Aston Martin Aramco and for 2025, and into 2026 we will continue to add extensive F1 sim time while building on the commercial relationships, especially in the USA as we end the year,” said Crawford in a recent interview.
“I have another year promised with Aston Martin Aramco. Maybe I will find an F1 opportunity with them, or maybe not, said Crawford. “One change we made is bringing in Harry Soden and the team at Infinity Sports Management to assist with how I can be on the F1 grid as early as 2026, but no later than 2027.”
In case that Crawford gets an F1 seat, he would be the next American driver to join the grid after Logan Sargeant who raced for Williams in 2023 and until this year’s Dutch Grand Prix. He was replaced by F2 driver and Williams junior Franco Colapinto from Monza.
Crawford joined DAMS Lucas Oil this year and impressed with his performance. In Barcelona’s Feature Race, he was victorious for the second time in his F2 career. In 2023, he won the Sprint Race in Austria for Hitech Grand Prix. It was a no-brainer for DAMS to re-sign with the young American driver.
“I’m really happy to be continuing with DAMS Lucas Oil for 2025 following on from a positive campaign so far in 2024,” Crawford said on his renewal at DAMS. “We’ve still got two rounds of this season to go as we’re pushing for a top-five finish, and I hope that we can take a further step forward next year, to be challenging more regularly at the front. I can see how determined everyone in the team is to compete further up the grid, which is why I’ve decided to stay for a second year. Motor racing is a team sport and not an individual one, so we’ll improve together and hopefully next year we can see the rewards on track.”
With two race weekends to go in this Formula 2 campaign, Crawford still has the chance to move up to third place in the standings. However, he knows that he never was in competition for the race win. The target is to win championship in 2025.
“We look forward to finishing the season strong. We are close to our top three goal, but we have never competed for the top spot. The new car just didn’t work for us at enough places this year, but we are hopeful we can turn it around with two race weekends to go.
“With DAMS, we are going to come back stronger in 2025. I have never been in a team for two years in a row, and we are determined as a group to win the championship in 2025. Racing is a team sport, not an individual sport. We will do it together, and it will be rewarding.”
DAMS is 8th from eleven teams in the Constructors Standings at the moment. Formula 2 returns at the end of November at the Lusail International Circuit before the season finale in Abu Dhabi a week later.
