DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford admitted to feeling lucky’ after winning a shortened FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Monaco.
In a race that was twice red-flagged, the American driver capitalised on the timing of a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) being upgraded to a full Safety Car to leap from fourth to first.
With the race stopped for a second time shortly after on Lap 16, following a crash for Hitech TGR’s Dino Beganovic, Crawford snatched a win that had appeared to belong to Italian driver, Leonardo Fornaroli.
The 20-year-old described the race as the “craziest race of my life”.
“What a day!” he said, adding: “When I woke up this morning, this was not I had imagined the race being.
“I can’t thank the team enough for giving me a good pit stop.”
Crawford hoping for more fortune in the future
The Charlotte-born driver told InsideF2 said he was delighted to be the beneficiary of good fortune, after losing positions at the previous race in Imola through a slow pit stop.
The timing of Crawford’s pit stop, which he very nearly missed out on, meant he avoided being stuck behind the Safety Car for a lap with Fornaroli, Lindblad and Montoya.
“[I’m] feeling super grateful, super lucky to be here,” he said.
Crawford added: “It’s Formula 2, I’ve seen it all and I’ve been on the bad side [of luck] at times.
11 MINUTES TO GO
? SAFETY CAR ?
Jak Crawford, Kush Maini, Luke Browning and Roman Stanek pit ?
Crucially, the top three are now stuck behind the Dafety Car #F2 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/DhEYojcJPa
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 25, 2025
“Honestly, after last week, after a slow stop when fighting for the win, I do feel repaid.”
He said: “I feel lucky, and I hope it happens again!”
How the race-winning move unfolded
The Aston Martin Development Driver had survived Turn 1 pile up, triggered by pole sitter Alex Dunne tangling with Victor Martins in the ART, with Crawford managing to squeeze past the carnage on the inside.
However, he restarted in fourth as Race Control took the grid positions to form a restart order with the remaining cars, meaning Crawford was behind Arvid Lindblad and Sebastian Montoya.
ALL the angles of Formula 2's turn one crash ??#F2 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/8QHnox3ZTO
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 25, 2025
But the American’s race-winning move came much later, following Beganovic’s shunt into the wall at Casino Square.
“I’d seen the crash on the TV and I was entering the last sector,” said Crawford, explaining that he slowed down anticipating the Safety Car being called.
However, as he passed the pit entry, race officials declared a VSC, meaning no drivers were able to make their mandatory pit stop, with pit stops under a VSC not counting towards the required minimum of one stop in F2.
Crawford repeated the process on the following lap.
“I told the team on the radio ‘be ready, be ready!’, in case the Safety Car [came out.]
“I did the exact same thing [as the previous lap], I slowed down right before the pit entry and I saw ‘Safety Car’ flashing on the board, so I pulled right and barely made it into the pits.”
The move vaulted him from fourth to first, although Crawford collects only 13 championship points, due to the reduced distance of the race.
Only 16 laps of the scheduled 42 were completed.
It means the American is now fifth in the standings, with 56 points, 14 behind new leader, Luke Browning.
Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty – Sam Bloxham/LAT Images
