Aston Martin appoint US driver Crawford as F1 reserve

LONDON :Aston Martin appointed American Jak Crawford as their Formula One reserve driver on Tuesday, replacing Brazilian Felipe Drugovich as backup to Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Crawford, 20, is currently second in the Formula Two championship and will be reserve at all races in the 2026 season.

Drugovich, the team's third driver since he won the 2022 Formula Two title, never got to race in Formula One and has joined the Andretti team in all-electric Formula E.

Crawford, in his third year in F2, has racked up more than 2,000km in Formula One machinery and took part in Friday practice in Mexico last week, driving Stroll's car.   

Aston Martin, seventh of 10 teams in the constructors' standings, are switching to Honda engines next season and have top designer Adrian Newey on board after he joined from Red Bull.