DAMS Lucas Oil had a difficult Round 13 of the 2025 FIA Formula 2 campaign at Lusail International Circuit in Qatar, picking up a point in the Sprint Race on Saturday.

On a track where overtaking is difficult, a frustrating qualifying session left title challenger Jak Crawford 15th and Kush Maini 20th on the grid for both races.

In Saturday’s Sprint, a strong start for Crawford saw the Aston Martin Reserve and Development Driver work his way up the order in the opening stages. He continued to gain positions during the 23-lap race, eventually moving up to eighth, claiming the final point on offer. Meanwhile, Maini also had a good getaway, before encountering a tyre issue, pitting under the Safety Car for soft rubber. However, suspension damage would bring his race to an end shortly after.

A more difficult launch in Sunday’s Feature Race would hand Crawford an even steeper battle to score points, with the American left stuck in traffic for the majority of the race, eventually finishing narrowly outside the points in 11th. Alpine F1 Test and Reserve Driver Maini opted for the alternate strategy in hopes of a later Safety Car. While an intervention did come, it turned out to be too early for the Indian driver, with his soft tyres losing grip before the finish, leaving him in 16th at the chequered flag.

The 2025 FIA Formula 2 campaign comes to an end this coming weekend (5-7 December) at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Jak Crawford: “Free Practice started ok and we had a good first run in qualifying. Unfortunately we struggled to put it together on the second run, narrowly missing the tyre temperature window, which was disappointing as we had good speed. The Sprint was really positive, I made a strong start to gain positions and kept it clean to score a point. On Sunday we had a lot of things go wrong, with a bad start, tough pitstop and being stuck in a DRS train. Overall not a great day and an unfortunate end to the event.”

Kush Maini: “It was a very difficult weekend, with a tough qualifying meaning we started from 20th in both races. It was an uphill battle in both races as it’s not easy to overtake on this track. In the Sprint we had to stop following a mechanical issue and we were unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car in the Feature, which made us go long on the soft tyres. It’s not been straightforward recently but I’m more motivated than ever to end the season on a high and get back to where we should be.”

Charles Pic, DAMS Lucas Oil Team Owner: “It wasn’t the weekend we wanted, which all started with a tough qualifying. Jak was fourth in the first run, we decided together to make some small changes to fine tune the set-up for his second run but he never found the grip, with traffic making the preparation phase difficult. Kush also struggled with grip, meaning both would start outside the top-10. Jak had a great getaway in the Sprint, making up positions and staying out of trouble to secure a point. On Kush’s side, we hoped to put the soft tyres on following the Safety Car but noticed damage to his suspension, so we told him to stop the car. Sunday’s Feature Race was a tough one for us, we didn’t have the best start with Jak and from there he was unable to move into the points. We lost a place in the pit-stop phase and he got stuck in traffic for the rest of the race. Kush opted for the alternate strategy, but unfortunately the Safety Car intervention came a few laps too early for us, meaning he ran out of grip in the latter stages of the race. Overall, the performance is not at the level we want, but we’re still fighting for P2 in the championship with Jak, so we need to react in Abu Dhabi to maintain his position.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency