Aston Martin announce F1 star Lance Stroll replacement at Austrian Grand Prix

Aston Martin

Aston Martin announce Lance Stroll replacement at Austrian Grand Prix

Jak Crawford is set for an FP1 appearance!

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 19 June 2026 20:45

Aston Martin F1 star Lance Stroll will be replaced for FP1 at the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend, an official statement from the team has confirmed.

Stroll has been having a miserable time of it lately with Aston Martin, not having claimed a single point across the first seven race weekends of 2026, although he did outqualify team-mate Fernando Alonso for the first time in almost two years last time out in Barcelona.

But at next weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, he will have one fewer practice session compared to his two-time champion team-mate, as Aston Martin try to fulfil their rookie driver quota.

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The team have confirmed that reserve driver Jak Crawford will step into the AMR26 for FP1 around the Red Bull Ring, before Stroll gets back into his machine for FP2 and the rest of the weekend.

It's all part of a rookie driver quota that all teams have to fulfil throughout the season, where each car has to be given to a rookie driver at least twice per season.

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Has Jak Crawford raced in F1 before?

Crawford has never raced in an F1 grand prix, but has taken part in a few practice sessions over the past couple of seasons, stepping into the AMR25 for FP1 in Mexico and Abu Dhabi last year.

The young American then returned to the track at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix earlier this year, again for Aston Martin, having been named their official third driver for 2026 following the departure of Felipe Drugovich.

Crawford raced in F2 in 2023, 2024 and 2025, winning six races and finishing as the runner up in the championship standings last year.

On his latest opportunity, Crawford said: "It's great to have another opportunity to drive the AMR26 during a race weekend. Austria is a circuit I know well and it's quite special to be returning to the Red Bull Ring with the team, almost two years after my first test in an Aston Martin F1 car.

"I've spent a lot of time in the simulator this season supporting the team and recently completed the tyre test in Barcelona, so I'm looking forward to applying that work on track. Every opportunity in an F1 car is valuable, and I'll be focused on delivering useful feedback and maximising the session for the team."

Who is Jak Crawford?

Crawford was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 2 2005, and was just six years of age when he began his karting career in 2011.

Having claimed a plethora of karting titles, Crawford made the jump up into a full-time single seater series in 2018, taking part in the NACAM Formula 4 Championship.

He claimed six victories in this series during the 2018-19 season, and finished second in the championship.

Crawford then went on to race in the Italian F4 Championship in 2020, and it was this season in which he was first signed to become a Red Bull junior driver, a position he held until 2024.

The season which really cemented him as a future F1 prospect, however, was the 2022 F3 season when, at the age of just 16, Crawford claimed a race win and four additional podiums in the series on his way to seventh in the championship.

He was snapped up by Hitech Pulse-Eight for the 2023 F2 season, the series in which he would spend the next three years.

Across three seasons in F2, Crawford claimed six race victories, including one in that first year as a Hitech Pulse-Eight driver.

The 2024 and 2025 seasons were spent with DAMS Lucas Oil and, away from F2, this was also when Crawford was let go from the Red Bull driver pool and instead snapped up by Aston Martin, who started immediately providing him with tests as part of the testing of previous cars (TPC) programme.

In the 2025 F2 season, Crawford finished second in the championship, behind victor Leonardo Fornaroli. He won four races and picked up two pole positions throughout the year.

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F1 Aston Martin Lance Stroll Austrian Grand Prix Jak Crawford