Jak Crawford’s Baku Weekend in his Words

Another two points scoring finishes for Jak Crawford in Baku was positive but ultimately not what he and the DAMS Lucas Oil team had hoped for going into the weekend.
Still, the American driver is positive about their pace heading into the final two events of the 2024 campaign, and here is how he saw Round 12, in his own words.
“Everyone sort of knew that the track was a bit off compared to previous years. I think the track was newly surfaced in 2023 and that gave a lot of good grip, and this year, after not being run on for a year and on top of that, being very dirty, that the track was not the same, and it was a bit different, feeling-wise, so which gave a lot less grip on track. So, I think we were all surprised, especially me, I had my expectations quite high for the grip.
“So we were about four or five seconds off where we were in Free Practice the previous year. Along with that, there were two Red Flags, I believe. So, we got very few laps in. I think I only did three push laps total. So, those things combined made for a very messy session, and obviously it was hard to take anything away from that.”
“We have F1 Free Practice 1 running after our Practice session, so we’ve got to take into account that track and grip evolution, as well as the change from Soft to Supersoft tyre compound. So, we have to factor that in as well with our preparation and it’s very tough to have conditions like that.
“I think my first lap of Qualifying was over three and a half seconds quicker than my best FP lap time, so it’s quite a bit quicker. But luckily, I think everyone is talented enough and experienced enough to know what sort of step to take.
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“It’s always very, very important to be in the top 10 in order to score well in both races. Obviously, you want to be on the good side of the top 10 for the Feature Race. For me, I was P9 so sort of on the good for the top 10 in the Sprint Race, so I knew that would be my best opportunity to win a race and score big points, but we weren’t too satisfied with the Qualifying, but at the end of the day, we just wanted to be in the top 10.”
“Ever since that Free Practice session, we were always struggling a bit with the car. We didn’t really get to learn much, so we’re always kind of taking a swing in the dark and that kind of thing. At the start, there was a small mistake from both my side and team side, and I had a bad start, lost some positions, although I knew it was going to be a long race, so I was doing a lot to save my tyres.
“I knew, as long as I stayed in that DRS train, that that I could have chances at the end. I also knew that it was Baku, and it can get very chaotic. So I was just really sat behind during the initial laps saving my tyres and eventually, when the time came, it was time to start pushing, and so I did.
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“I made up some positions and then on the Safety Car restart, as usual, it’s a bit chaotic, no one has any grip, and I was able to get another position. At that point, I was looking at the win right in front of me, and I think it was around three laps to go, but unfortunately, there just wasn’t quite the tyre life left to attack at the end.”
“The Feature Race was very tricky. Obviously, with the Red Flag, the race was shortened a lot, which, from my position at the end of top 10, meant it was really difficult to make up ground as most of that in these longer races are made at the end of the stints. So, I wasn’t really able to make use of the tyre wear. With very short stints, it’s all flat out, everyone’s pushing to the limit.
“We had a slower pit stop, I lost a position there, and generally, the pace was not great. Although we were coming on, it would have been nice to have a full race distance, because I think we would have just got stronger and stronger. But at the end of the day, that’s sometimes how the races go.
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“I’m still fighting for some top places in the Championship, I think realistically, third is still easily on the cards. Anything can happen in this Championship, so it’s important to always score points. I’m happy to score the points, you definitely need them, because you never know when you could have a weekend where you really fast, but you score zero points. So, even on a weekend where we struggled, it’s still good to take away some points.”
“From my side, just a lot of relaxing and getting caught up after these two races, learning and seeing what we can build on for Qatar. I have lots of simulator planned and even though it’s very far away, already in the next few weeks, we want to start preparing a little bit for Qatar.
“Then of course, as we get closer to the event, really, really preparing for it. It’s a back-to-back as well and being in the Middle East, we have to prepare both Qatar and Abu Dhabi at the same time. So, we’ll be preparing for the next two months, basically, and hoping to maximize those events.”