Ex-Red Bull junior tells story: 'Phone call from Marko last thing you want'

A race winner in Formula 2 and with two years' experience in Formula 3, former Red Bull Racing junior Jak Crawford seems well on his way to a possible future in Formula 1. The 18-year-old American is starting his second F2 season and has been recruited by Aston Martin, according to Racer.com.

Crawford was part of the Red Bull Junior Team until the end of 2023, but Helmut Marko decided not to continue with the young talent. Still, the American certainly did not do badly in his first year in Formula 2, securing a win and four podium finishes for the Hitech team.

"I feel like I’m in a good position. It’s a bit weird saying I’ve been in Red Bull for four years, and I’ve been dropped and I’m only 18. It is a bit weird to say that, but I do think it’s a good opportunity for myself, relieved of pressure," Crawford said.

Former Red Bull junior talks about Marko

It is well known that Red Bull Junior team drivers are under a lot of performance pressure and that Helmut Marko has a somewhat notorious reputation when it comes to his approach to young talent. "I think the hardest things are obviously the pressure and expectation that is set on you. He puts a lot of faith in his drivers, but he also expects a lot," he said about his experience with the Red Bull advisor.

"The last thing you want is to have a bad weekend and receiving a phone call from Helmut to say to come meet him," he continued. "Sometimes he’s brutally honest. That’s the right way to say it. Sometimes it can be too brutally honest, where it can be unfair at times, if you want to say, but it’s not so bad. To me it was very, very short, and very to the point."

Crawford will appear at the start of his second season in F2 in 2024 with a new team, DAMS. According to Racer.com, he will also join another training programme after leaving Red Bull. It is said to be Aston Martin's talent programme.