Felipe Drugovich’s long Aston Martin chapter closed under the Las Vegas lights, the team confirming the 2025 weekend was the Brazilian’s last in green before he jumps back into full-time racing with Andretti in Formula E from 2026.
Drugovich has been a quiet constant at Silverstone since 2022, the first driver signed to Aston Martin’s rebooted driver development programme. He’s done the graft that doesn’t make TV: simulator marathons, private running, Abu Dhabi post-season tests, and those often thankless FP1 outings where a reserve inherits a low-grip circuit and a punchy run plan. When the team needed laps, he delivered them.
Aston marked the farewell in the paddock and online, sharing a photo of Drugovich perched on the AMR25 with the crew around him and a simple message: three years, well spent.
“Felipe has been with the team for several years. A really great asset,” said team principal and CEO Andy Cowell earlier in the season at Singapore. “Felipe, keen to go racing again, so I and everybody else was really keen to make sure that he’s got that opportunity and can go off and enjoy Formula E. So we wish him well, thank him.
“We’re in a fortunate position that we’ve got Lance and Fernando contracted for next year, so we’ve got that stability as we go across the regulation set.”
That last point matters. With Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll locked in, Aston Martin’s race seats are settled as F1 heads toward its next rulebook cycle. The revolving door instead turns on the third-driver role Drugovich leaves behind.
The team isn’t waiting long. Aston Martin has confirmed American junior Jak Crawford will step up as third and reserve driver for 2026. Crawford’s rise has been gathering pace, and he’s still in the thick of the Formula 2 title fight with two rounds left this year. If he arrives with a trophy under his arm, so much the better; if not, the team still gets a fast, modern single-seater yardstick ready to knuckle down on sim work and FP mileage.
As for Drugovich, the move to Formula E is exactly what it sounds like: a racer itching to race again. The 2022 F2 champion has been in the right place at Aston Martin at the right time for the team — think of all the correlation work across three different cars — but there’s only so long a driver of his pedigree parks his elbows. Andretti gets a composed, technically sharp operator who’s acclimatised to high-pressure programmes and limited-track-time weekends. It’s a smart landing spot.
Inside Aston Martin, the sentiment is uncomplicated: appreciation for a job thoroughly done. Drugovich wasn’t the headline, often by design. He was the benchmark on windy Fridays, the calm voice when the tyre model didn’t quite match the kerb strike, the guy you trust when you need a clean read. Teams don’t forget that.
The final touchpoint came in Vegas, a fittingly big stage for a low‑profile goodbye. A reserve’s farewell rarely earns a curtain call — this one did, and it was earned.
