Jak Crawford

Carlton Jakston "Jak" Crawford (born 2 May 2005) is an American racing driver who is currently competing in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship for DAMS Lucas Oil, having previously raced for Hitech Pulse-Eight in 2023. Before that, he competed in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for two years, finish the latter year seventh in 2022 with Prema Racing.

He is a member of the Aston Martin Driver Development Programme and finished as runner-up in the 2020 ADAC Formula 4 Championship.

Karting
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Crawford started his karting career in 2011 after he moved to the Houston, Texas area. He competed in multiple championships, predominantly in North America, winning the Challenge of the Americas - Junior Rotax Series among others. In Crawford's first overseas karting race in 2014 at the Rok Cup International Championship, while only 9 years old, he finished second. Other international karting competition was mostly sporadic but generally successful.

Lower formulas
In 2018, Crawford made his car racing debut in the NACAM Formula 4 Championship, driving for Scuderia Martiga EG. He won six races, and with eight further podiums the American driver finished second in the Series behind Manuel Sulaimán.

Crawford raced in the German and Italian Formula 4 Championships in 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic he would only compete part-time in the latter. He signed for Van Amersfoort Racing, partnering fellow Red Bull Junior Team member Jonny Edgar. The American driver would end up finishing second in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship with a gap of just two points behind Edgar, while in the Italian Championship he would finish sixth, despite missing two race weekends.

U.S. F2000
In April 2019, Crawford joined DEForce Racing to contest part of the 2019 season as he was not old enough to start the racing season. In July, he switched to Cape Motorsports to contest the final five rounds and ended the season seventh in the standings.

Euroformula Open
In March 2021, it was announced Crawford would race with Motopark in the 2021 season alongside his FIA Formula 3 commitments. Crawford missed the first two races of the season at Algarve due to his age, however he took 8 wins and a further two podium finishes to finish 3rd in the standings despite missing 2 rounds.

2022
In January 2022, Crawford partook in the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Prema ahead of their FIA Formula 3 campaign together. Crawford took 3 podiums en route to 6th in the overall standings.

2023
Crawford partook in three rounds in the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Hitech Grand Prix before his main 2023 campaign.

2021
In October 2020 Crawford completed the first post-season test at Catalunya, running for Hitech GP. Later that month, the British outfit once again fielded Crawford in the second post-season test at Jerez and confirmed him for the 2021 season in January the following year. Crawford's best result was second place at Spa in race 1 and he finished 13th overall that season.

2022
In November, Crawford joined Prema Racing, which had taken fellow Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger to that year's title, for the post-season test. In January 2022, Crawford was confirmed with the Italian outfit for that year's championship. Crawford took his first and only victory of the season at the Sprint race in Austria. An additional 4 podiums saw the 17 year old American finish 7th in the overall standings with 109 points to his name.

2023
Crawford tested for Hitech Grand Prix in the 2022 post-season Yas Marina F2 test. In January 2023, it was announced that Crawford would be reuniting with Hitech for the 2023 Formula 2 Championship, partnering Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar.

Crawford began his rookie F2 season by qualifying 19th., Crawford would finish the sprint in 14th and followed that up by finishing 12th in the feature race. Looking to bounce back in Jeddah, Crawford qualified 10th meaning he would start the sprint from reverse pole. Crawford led the sprint for one lap before being passed by Ayumu Iwasa causing him to drop to 2nd but it would get worse for Crawford as was passed by Ralph Boschung, Jehan Daruvala, Victor Martins, Kush Maini, Frederik Vesti, and Jack Doohan dropping him to 8th. Crawford would then be overtaken by Dennis Hauger on the line meaning he finished 9th, just missing out on scoring his first point by 0.175 seconds. The feature race be tough as Crawford's strategy didn't work leading to him finishing in 15th place meaning the American still had 0 points after 4 races.

Crawford qualified 9th for F2's first visit to Albert Park., starting on the reverse front row crawford would challenge Dennis Hauger for the lead but was eventually forced to settle for second place but still it marked not only his first points but his first podium in F2. The feature race however would be a disaster as Crawford would crash out on lap 6 after he was pushed into the gravel at turn 12 by Jack Doohan which caused him to smash into the wall. Crawford qualified 7th in Baku. Crawford ran 3rd at the start but was overtaken by Frederik Vesti and ex F3 teammate Oliver Bearman meaning he ran 5th but he benefitted from the late canarge that saw Dennis Hauger, Victor Martins, Jehan Daruvala, Theo Pourchaire and Jack Doohan retire to finish third behind the safety car which marked his second podium finish in F2. The feature race would be less successful as Crawford would finish 9th but it still marked his first double points weekend in F2.

Crawford qualified 7th for the Monaco. In the sprint Crawford would benefit from his teammate Isack Hadjar retiring with mechanical problems to take his third podium of the season as he finished in third place. Like in Baku the feature race would be less successful for Crawford as he finished in 9th place. Crawford qualified 9th for the Spain round. The sprint however would end in disaster for Crawford as he would collide with Frederik Vesti into turn 1 on the 1st lap with the damage causing him to retire from the race. For the feature race Crawford's strategy wouldn't work and he finished 13th ending a miserable weekend for the American driver.

Needing to bounce back in Austria Crawford qualified 10th meaning he would be on reverse grid pole. In a crazy race where some drivers started on slicks and others on wets, Crawford made the right choice to start on slicks (even though he lost the lead at the start) as he controlled the race after retaking the lead on lap 6 and he crossed the line first to take his maiden win in F2. The feature race wouldn't go as well due to Crawford being caught out by a late safety car that meant he dropped from 5th to 8th place at the flag.

Crawford qualified 15th for the round at Silverstone. The sprint would see Crawford finish 14th., but he bounced back by finishing 10th in the feature race. Crawford qualified 18th in Budapest. Crawford would finish the sprint in 14th place. and followed this up with a 17th place finish in the feature race ending another frustrating weekend for the Hitech driver.

Crawford qualified 12th for the race at Spa. Crawford would finish the sprint race in 14th place., but it would only get worse during the feature race as after running out of the points all race, Crawford would be spun around by Juan Manuel Correa which caused his engine to stall, leading to his retirement which ended a miserable weekend for Crawford. Looking to bounce back from Spa, Crawford took his maiden pole position at Zandvoort. In the sprint Crawford would retire on the 1st lap after contact with Kush Maini caused him to spin across the grass and into the wall at turn 5. Fortunately for Crawford the race was abandoned after the rain didn't clear up meaning Crawford didn't lose anything from his DNF. For the feature race, Crawford lead for the first few laps until he pitted and lost the lead to Zane Maloney, then the safety car came out following Theo Pourchaire's crash which allowed Clement Novalak to take the lead. Crawford would be unable to repass the two in front of him meaning he finished third but he still took his first podium since Monaco.

Crawford qualified 7th for the race at Monza. Crawford would finish the sprint 7th but drop to 13th following a penalty for exceeding track limits. In the feature race Crawford would fight for points until he broke his front wing after contact with Kush Maini on lap 23. Crawford would then retire on lap 27 after Roman Stanek pushed him into the gravel at turn 8 ending what was a horrible weekend for the American driver. Crawford qualified 19th for the season finale in Yas Marina... Crawford would finish the sprint 12th after a good charge up the field. Crawford would finish the feature race in 10th after running on the alternative strategy which ended a tough season the Hitech driver.

Crawford finished 2023, 13th in the drivers championship with 57 points(two ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar). During the season he took 1 win with four more podiums and 1 pole position. He also helped Hitech Pulse-Eight finish eighth in the teams championship. Crawford drove for DAMS in the post season test with him finishing third fastest on day 1.

2024
For the 2024 season, Crawford made the transition to DAMS Lucas Oil.

Formula One
In January 2020, Crawford was named as a new signing for the Red Bull Junior Team. He departed the junior squad after four years. Despite that, his involvement in Formula One remained as he signed with the Aston Martin Driver Development Programme for 2024. On 5 June 2024, Crawford made his debut in a Formula One car for the first time, driving the Aston Martin AMR22 at the Red Bull Ring.

Formula E
In May 2024, Andretti Formula E announced Crawford to be taking part in the Berlin rookie test for them.

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Racing career summary
* Season still in progress.

Complete NACAM Formula 4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Italian F4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional Asian Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete Formula Regional Middle East Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) * Season still in progress.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)