“Similar to what we did in the beginning”: Crawford on his F2 pole in Baku

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

DAMS’ Jak Crawford likened his Formula 2 pole in Baku to the breakthrough he achieved earlier in the year, when the American secured pole position in Jeddah after going three races without scoring points. 

Crawford took pole in a chaotic qualifying session in Baku | Credit: Formula 2

The similarities stood out between both qualifying sessions: A fast street circuit, a session featuring red flag interventions, and Crawford securing pole by a slender margin. In Jeddah, he took pole by 22 milliseconds, while the margin was slightly shorter in Baku, 19 milliseconds to championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli this time around. 

Crawford comes into Baku on the back of difficult rounds in Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, with a brace of third-place finishes at the Hungaroring sandwiched in between. Yet, the American driver lost crucial ground to Fornaroli and Luke Browning at Monza, with fellow multiple-season F2 racer Richard Verschoor also edging ahead in the points tally at the end of the European leg. 

Although not likened to his opening rounds in 2025, Crawford mentions the similar patterns between both phases of his F2 campaign. 

“To get the pole here after such a tough round, it feels like, you know, similar to what we did back in the beginning of the season, where we had a tough round in Bahrain and came back with a pole in Jeddah,” Crawford said, drawing parallels from his breakthrough form earlier in the season. 

Monza, in particular, proved to be tough for the DAMS outfit. Despite qualifying in the top ten for the sprint and feature races for the first time since Spain, Kush Maini found himself in the gravel early in both races, spinning out of the sprint, before being forced into the gravel by Arvid Lindblad’s Campos in the Feature Race.

Crawford had a less fortunate weekend, qualifying 11th on the grid for both races. Having finished 16th in the sprint, the American ran in the points during the 30-lap Feature Race, before slipping out of the points late in the race, finishing 11th on the road.  

The two non-scores cost Crawford vital ground in the championship fight, with Browning and Verschoor leaping ahead, as Fornaroli extended his lead with a victory in the sprint race earlier. 

“There were tons of issues out of me and the team's control in Monza, which meant that I just dropped through the field in the races. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about that. 

“And, yeah, knowing that I could have had two strong results that weekend and coming away with no points hurts, and to come back with a pole like this, it's exactly what, you know, me and the team prepare to do every week,” Crawford concluded, mentioning the satisfaction on securing pole and two valuable championship points in Baku. 

Crawford endured a disappointing Monza weekend | Credit: DAMS

The DAMS racer had to scrap hard for pole in the session, one that saw three red flags at various crucial intervals in the session. Even still, Crawford set a crucial 1:54.791 pole time in the first half of the session, assisted by a lengthy tow from Gabriele Minì on the 2.2 km (1.4 mi) long run to the line. 

“It was a chaotic one. Lots of stress. You never want to get pole position exactly this way,” Crawford remarked, speaking on the general nature of the qualifying session. 

“I mean, I don't really care how I get pole, but this way they put a lot of pressure on the last two laps, what we thought were going to be the last two laps of whatever red flag. And in the end, it all mattered on the first run,” he said.  

The American was on his flying lap right behind ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins when the Frenchman went heavily into the barriers at Turn 3, triggering the second red flag of the session. He remarked he was glad to make it through the session without any damage. 

“So yeah, happy to survive the chaos, because I almost ran into Victor (Martins) when he crashed, because I was literally the next car behind him,” Crawford said, speaking on the close circumstances in his session. 

With just over four minutes to go in the session, it was uncertain if the stewards would resume the session, given the prior red flag interventions causing the session to extend beyond its stipulated 30-minute duration, and just about an hour left for Formula One’s Free Practice 2 session to resume. 

Crawford mentioned he would have enough in the tank to have still secured the pole, irrespective of whether the final set of laps would be set or not. 

“I didn't mind if it got cancelled or if it went forward. You know, I feel like I had enough pace today that we were going to fight for pole, no matter what. It's a shame that we didn't get to see everyone's true pace today. But you know, we're on pole, and that's all that matters,” he concluded. 

Looking ahead to the Sunday Feature Race, Crawford mentioned the similarities he could draw from his race in Jeddah, mentioning the aspect of being able to push right to the limit of the street circuit. 

“A lot of these street circuits are run fairly flat out. You can push to the limit quite a lot, and the strategy also matters a lot. I think those are the key aspects. 

“I feel it (Baku) is very similar to Jeddah in those ways, in terms of how you want to do the race, how much you really push to the limit. Similar to Jeddah, you can really push to the limit at this track during the race. I'm excited for Sunday, and I'm excited to push hard,” Crawford remarked, confident for the Sunday race ahead. 

When asked about his thoughts on Sunday’s F2 Feature Race, Crawford looked ahead, confident of maintaining his track position and being quick in the race. 

Yeah, I really like this track (Baku), and I feel we have a good car this weekend.

The race pace seemed pretty good in free practice. We were able to improve in the end, unlike some others. So yeah, I feel like the pace is good, and I have no doubt that we'll be fast in the race,” Crawford concluded. 

While he will certainly be looking to close in on his troika of championship contenders ahead, Crawford will first have to navigate the Saturday Sprint from tenth on the road, while Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez starts the race from reverse-grid pole.