2025 System 2 runner-up Jak Crawford says the 2027 season shall be his finest shot at securing a seat in System 1.
A former Pink Bull junior, Crawford has been a check driver for Aston Martin for the previous two years however has did not get an opportunity on the earth championship, because the group retained its line-up of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
The Texan additionally held talks with Cadillac, however by no means actually stood an opportunity in opposition to veterans Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.
Like many profitable kids earlier than him, Crawford is subsequently embarking on a racing-less season as a reserve driver, nonetheless at Aston Martin. He’s hoping to emulate the likes of Oscar Piastri, who spent 2022 on the sidelines after profitable the F2 title however was coveted by a number of groups for his F1 debut in 2023 and made a high-profile transfer from Alpine to McLaren.
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“I believe ‘27 is, after all, my closest shot,” Crawford stated eventually yr’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. “I will be hopefully nonetheless related then, after solely a yr out racing in F2, ending that effectively, and being within the paddock in any respect the races subsequent yr. I really feel prefer it’s good to be across the paddock, it retains your identify on folks’s mouths, folks see you. So I believe ‘27 is my finest alternative for a race seat.”
Nonetheless, not each third driver has gone on to race in System 1, removed from it – as proven by former Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich, who just lately departed the group to make a full-time swap to System E, after biding his time in that position for 3 years.
“In fact, there’s all the time a little bit of fear that you would be able to’t get a seat in System 1 as a result of it is everybody’s dream,” Crawford admitted. “All of the drivers which are right here being reserve drivers, all of them wish to race full-time in F1. So, after all, you are not there but, so you are still making an attempt to work for that, and also you additionally must earn it, after all.
“I am not frightened. I really feel like if I do a great job in my position, then there shall be alternatives sooner or later.”
Jak Crawford, Aston Martin F1 Group
Photograph by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Photographs through Getty Photographs
So far as the dearth of a racing programme is anxious, Crawford is adamant that this gained’t harm his prospects in the long term – significantly as he has already accomplished many F1 checks at Aston, with extra on the desk this yr.
“I haven’t got to additionally concentrate on System 2 and System E, which I’ve performed a bit this yr,” the previous Andretti System E reserve driver identified. “Full focus [is] on the F1 programme, so it’s going to be good to be totally targeted on that, and I believe that prepares me the very best.
“I really feel like I am at a great degree, particularly in my racing, in order that something after that I simply have to sort of study and be across the System 1 group – and I really feel like something I have to study in System 1, moreover clearly racing in System 1, I can do with observe time, with simulator time, with being on the races.”
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