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American Jak Crawford is the latest driver to appear to be on a fast track to Formula 1.
Crawford, an 18-year-old Formula 2 rookie originally from Charlotte, N.C., and who now calls Houston home, scored his first career Formula 2 race victory on Saturday in Austria. Crawford won the 27-lap Saturday Sprint fr Hitech Pulse Eight Racing.
Crawford came back to finish eighth in the Feature Race in Austria.
His timing couldn't be much better, as Hitech recently made public its intention to create a Formula 1 team. If the bid is accepted by the FIA, Hitech could create an F1 opportunity as soon as 2016.
“It was my best F2 weekend so far, a pretty crazy weekend,” said Crawford, who is part of the Red Bull Racing Junior program. “It was pretty cool to hear the National Anthem at the podium, especially in Formula 2. It was a great race, and I’m so happy with the results. The Red Bull people are happy—I did a lot of stuff with them after the race and it was quite fun.”
Crawford is 13th in the season championship standings after the double-points weekend. He now has four podiums, all in Sprint Races, and seven points-paying finishes in 2023.
“Obviously, we still have a bit of work to do,” Crawford said. “I feel we have more to come in the Feature Races. We need to work on qualifying time and making sure we score big in the Feature Race, but we’ve done a lot of work over the break and we made a big improvement.”
