Jak Crawford, an American driver, is focusing on his Formula 1 goals as an Aston Martin reserve driver. He has opted out of F2 racing to concentrate on his F1 testing role, having already participated in his first public outing at Suzuka.
Key points
Jak Crawford is an Aston Martin reserve driver.
He has opted out of F2 to focus on F1.
Crawford completed three seasons of F2.
He had his first public F1 outing at Suzuka.
Colton Herta is also making headlines in F1.
Mentioned in this story
Aston MartinSuzuka
Jak CrawfordColton HertaFormula 1Formula 2
2026 formula 1 japanese grand prix
American Jak Crawford Is All In on His F1 GoalsNurPhoto - Getty Images
Colton Herta may be making headlines as he makes his Formula 1 practice debut this weekend, but he's not the only American with a shot at getting on an F1 grid. Aston Martin reserve driver Jak Crawford is on a similar testing program and has hopes to move up the ladder, but with one big difference. Having done three full seasons of F2, Crawford has opted out of racing to focus solely on his F1 test and reserve role with Aston Martin.
In fact, the Charlotte native is already a step ahead of Herta, having experienced his first public F1 outing in FP1 at Suzuka last month.
f1 grand prix of japan practice
NurPhoto - Getty Images
It’s not usually a track where teams deploy Friday rookies—a 17-year-old Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso back in 2014 was a rare exception—but circumstances created an opportunity for an early debut.
With Fernando Alonso’s partner expecting their child that week, the team gave the Spaniard some extra leeway for a late start to his Japanese GP weekend by calling upon Crawford. The first practice session was, in any case, devoted to routine setup work and trying new parts, with an aero rig attached at one point, and thus it wasn’t a big sacrifice for Alonso.
The bonus was that it gave Crawford an unexpectedly early taste of the AMR26, allowing him to go back to his regular work in the factory simulator at Silverstone with a new understanding of the correlation with the real car.
“It was a good experience,” he tells Road & Track in an exclusive chat. “I really enjoyed the circuit. And yeah, it was great to get a good understanding of this 2026 car, with everything going on with energy management and everything. I was quite comfortable, and up to speed quickly. I think the simulator running helped that, and I already knew a bit what to expect from the car. I did over 200 laps of Suzuka in the simulator, and so I already had a pretty good understanding of everything. And luckily, everything seemed to translate quite well.”
Q&A
What is Jak Crawford's role in Formula 1?
Jak Crawford is an Aston Martin reserve driver focusing on his testing and reserve role in Formula 1.
How many seasons of F2 did Jak Crawford complete?
Jak Crawford completed three full seasons of Formula 2 before opting out to focus on Formula 1.
When did Jak Crawford have his first public F1 outing?
Jak Crawford had his first public F1 outing during FP1 at Suzuka last month.
How does Jak Crawford's F1 journey compare to Colton Herta's?
Jak Crawford is ahead of Colton Herta, as he has already participated in an F1 outing while Herta is making his practice debut this weekend.
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Crawford has done some private testing with TPC (two-year-old) cars, and in December, he did the Abu Dhabi rookie test in the then-current AMR25. However, that was a relaxed test day with only nine other drivers on track.
In Japan, he had 21 other cars around him and much to deal with, given the complexity of the 2026 models.
“Especially with the energy management around the lap and opening a lap,” he notes. “You're going slowly and trying to recover also your energy on slow laps and stuff. And especially with these new regulations, we're trying to test so much, we're running big aero rigs on the cars, we're wanting to try different settings on the steering wheel. So definitely a lot going on!”
f1 grand prix of china
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It’s not easy for a young guy straight out of F2 to feel at home in a much larger F1 team, but Jak has fit in well at Aston.
"It was nice working with all the guys in the garage,” he says. “They're such a good group of guys, and I feel like they go through such a hard time working long hours getting the car ready. It's been a rough start to the year, not only for the team, but for the mechanics, just with all the issues we've had in testing – sometimes changing batteries, changing engines, that takes a long time and sometimes no sleep at nights. So a lot of respect for them. And it's nice to be able to work with that many people. I've been hanging around with the team for a while now, so I know a lot of the faces. Everyone's pretty friendly already.”
Crawford has three more FP1 sessions to look forward to. He doesn’t know when they will be, but sprint weekends are out, as are street events where the race drivers need as much mileage as they can get.
“It's pretty flexible,” he says. “For Suzuka, for example, I didn't know until the Thursday, which is pretty much a week in advance. That's also part of the job. I'm here to drive the simulator and be reserve driver. And that's what I'm doing. I know I'll get back in the car at some point. I just don't know when. Obviously, it would be beneficial to have the sessions earlier in the season. Suzuka was super beneficial because, third race of the year, and we're trying to develop the car, trying to develop the simulator, and it's good to have already this experience. Even in case I need to jump in the car at some point, it's good to have on-track experience ahead of time.”
It’s that relentless work on the simulator where Crawford can earn his stripes and impress Aston. He’ll be driving in the sim on the Friday of European race weekends, before heading out to join the team on Saturdays. For the races further afield, he’ll be with the team the whole time.
That includes Miami, where the sprint schedule means he can’t do FP1. He will no doubt be plunged into marketing activities for Aston.
“Super excited for Miami, one of my three home races now,” he says. “Also, it’s the nearest, and the first one of the year. I love going to Miami for the race; it’s great. I wish I was driving—I think that'd be really cool.”
Crawford is progressing well at Aston, but the elephant in the room is what his future prospects really are.
f1 japanese grand prix 2026 practice session
NurPhoto - Getty Images
While as noted there’s momentum building around Herta and all involved want him to progress, the Aston environment is very different. Lance Stroll isn’t going anywhere, and if Alonso goes, owner Lawrence Stroll will want to replace him with a proven race winner.
Crawford can only really hope that he’s in the right place at the right time, and that the current push behind the sport in the USA can help him in some way.
“I would hope it would help a bit, let's say from a commercial standpoint,” he says. “But I also feel that all the teams are doing so well nowadays that there isn't huge commercial benefit to be had. F1 is such a big sport now that it doesn't really need drivers from certain nationalities to promote sponsors or anything. And of course, I'm from my side I would love to get there, even if it was for my country. But obviously to get there on merit is even better.”
The worrying thing for Crawford is that his predecessor, Felipe Drugovich, won the 2022 F2 title before spending three years sitting around as Aston reserve, and he never got a chance to race.
Fed up with waiting, the Brazilian moved to Formula E, where he now drives for Cadillac’s sister team Andretti. For how long can Jak stay out of racing?
“I haven't really thought about it yet, to be honest,” he says. “Of course, at some point I want to race something, maybe even next year. So it just depends how it all plays out. At this point, I'm not really, really worried about it. I think it's something for later in the year.”
