Aston Martin to Run Jak Crawford in FP1 at Belgian Grand Prix

Overview

• Aston Martin announced that reserve driver Jak Crawford will take Fernando Alonso's car for the first practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix and Alonso will return to the car later on Friday.
• F1 sporting rules require teams to give rookie drivers track time in practice sessions, and Aston Martin says this FP1 outing fulfills that mandatory rookie-drive quota.
• Crawford is Aston Martin's official reserve and a 2025 F2 runner-up who has already run two FP1 sessions this season and drove the AMR25 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
• The team has struggled with the AMR26's reliability and pace in 2026, and engineers will use Crawford's session to gather setup and performance data ahead of planned upgrade packages.
• The session gives Crawford a chance to impress for future seats and creates a short-term test for the team while Fernando Alonso faces pressure over form and an expiring contract at the end of the season.