{"id":834956,"date":"2026-07-31T05:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834956\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T05:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:07:13","slug":"aston-martin-driver-sends-defiant-were-ready-message-for-eventual-f1-resurgence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834956\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Martin driver sends defiant ‘we’re ready’ message for eventual F1 resurgence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aston Martin reserve driver Jak Crawford has stated the team will be \u201cprepared\u201d for what he believes will be an eventual reality in which it enjoys a resurgence in Formula 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Silverstone-based squad<\/a>\u2018s 2026 has been one of disappointment, difficulty and hard work to eradicate the damage that\u2019s causing its on-track suffering.<\/p>\n

With a late development of its 2026 car \u2013 the AMR26 \u2013 and the accompanying issues posed by its underpowered Honda engine, the team has so far scored one point in the first 11 races.<\/p>\n

Light is very much shining brightly at the end of the tunnel, with the AMR26\u2019s overhaul of upgrades in the Hungarian Grand Prix helping the team to 13th and 14th places respectively, with Fernando Alonso putting the car in Q2 in qualifying for the first time this season.<\/p>\n

It will be followed by an upgraded power unit from Honda, which will debut at next month\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix and has already been tested<\/a> at the Hungaroring this week.<\/p>\n

For Crawford, being part of the Aston Martin setup has been a chance for him to be exposed to F1, despite not being a full-time race driver \u2013 something he expressed gratitude to the team for.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I feel like it\u2019s just gaining all that experience,\u201d he told Motorsport Week in an exclusive interview. \u201c[It\u2019s] The only way to properly get more experience.\u00a0Sometimes all you need in Formula 1 is just more experience. And I feel like just by being around all the time, in the driver\u2019s car as much as possible, I feel like that\u2019s kind of giving me that experience without actually racing all the races and stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the culture\u2019s been great.\u00a0You know, they\u2019ve been really supportive of me. They want me to do well.\u00a0They obviously know I\u2019m good in the simulator and then they want me, of course, to then get more car time as possible, which has been great. I\u2019ve had many opportunities in the last couple years in the F1 car.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JakJak Crawford has told Motorsport Week that Aston Martin will be ready when it is quick enough to compete<\/p>\n

Aston Martin \u2018very well prepared\u2019 for more competitive days<\/p>\n

The AMR26 has naturally been a tricky car to drive for Alonso and Lance Stroll, which is an experience that has extended down to Crawford on a count of his FP1 appearances this year, and his tireless work in the sim.<\/p>\n

Asked if he feels that working with a problematic machine has made him a better driver, Crawford believes it has, and relayed the message of utter determination from Aston Martin that it is \u201cready\u201d for the return of the good times, crediting the whole team\u2019s hard work to hoist itself out of its current troubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, for sure,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI think it\u2019s, even for all three of us here that have driven the car, it\u2019s very, you know, of course it\u2019s not the situation we want, but we still have to work super hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we still want to make sure, even though we go into the last few races knowing that we\u2019re not going to be able to fight for really anything, we still need to put in the same work ethic.\u00a0We still need to prepare like we normally would so that when the time comes, we\u2019re prepared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when we have a car that can fight for points and fight for podiums, we\u2019re very well prepared and everyone in the team is ready for it. And, of course, it makes you a better driver.\u00a0You try and find time wherever you can.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re trying so hard to find every bit you can and every single tenth of lap time. Eventually, when we\u2019re hopefully fighting in the midfield, you know, then again, you know, we\u2019re trying to fight for every single tenth because it could change every weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Aston has proved its hard work by being leaps and bounds ahead of its position in Australia, and whilst there is still a long road ahead, the signs are ominously good for a return back to competitiveness.<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 Aston Martin driver reveals Adrian Newey attention amid gradual F1 improvements<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aston Martin reserve driver Jak Crawford has stated the team will be \u201cprepared\u201d for what he believes will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[18573,64,63,18276,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-834956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-astonmartin","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crawford","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}