A͟l͟a͟n͟a͟ J͟o͟s͟i͟e͟ C͟r͟a͟w͟f͟o͟r͟d͟ (born 11 September 1999) is a half Brazilian half American racing driver who drives under the Brazilian flag, currently driving for Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Team. Crawford won the GP3 series, today known as FIA Formula 3 championship, in 2018 in her rookie year and the same story repeated in 2019 when she won the FIA Formula 2 championship with the Prema team.
Crawford was announced to be the reigning champion Max Verstappen's teammate on November 1st when former driver Sergio "Checo" Pérez unexpectedly announced his retirement from Formula 1.
Alana Crawford made her Formula 1 debut in 2020 in a practice session with Alpha Tauri as she was part of the Red Bull Junior Team and was signed the following year as their reserve driver.
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒
Born to father Wesley Crawford and mother Belinda, Crawford grew up as the second oldest alongside three other siblings; an older sister, Nini(25), who is a successful entrepreneur based in New York City, a younger sister, Camila(20), and a younger brother, Jak(17), who is currently racing in Formula 3. Her father is an American businessman owner of Crawford Tech, a logistics company in charge of the transport and distribution of mechanical parts. Her mother is a well-known painter that has her own gallery in New York.
Growing up Alana watched NASCAR and Indianapolis live but she's sure her love for racing started when she watched Ayrton Senna's astonishing performance in the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix: "He had lost his fourth, then third and fifth gears, before getting stuck in sixth. He was exhausted by the end of the race and had to be lifted out of the car. At that moment I thought "Wow, that has to be the bravest man I have ever seen". Seeing him that tired remind me that he was just like me and just like everyone else so if he could do it maybe I could too. Obviously with a lot of practice and hard work". The Brazilian said in an interview in 2020 with Sky Sports.
𝐸𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠
Alana Crawford started karting at the age of five when she got gifted her first kart. She refers to her father as her mentor, coach, and source of encouragement. During her initial years in karts, her father was her mechanic and coach, from whom she learned everything about the kart. She won the Challenge of the Americas - Junior Rotax Series at only 9 years old and the next year, in 2009, came second in the Rok Cup International Championship. Up until 2014, she competed in karting competitions all around Europe where she met some Formula 1 drivers like Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen, George Russell and Mick Schumacher.
In 2015, Crawford, at only 16 years of age, made her car racing debut in the NACAM Formula 4 Championship, driving for Scuderia Martiga. She won seven races, and with eight further podiums, the American driver finished second in the Series behind Manuel Sulaimán.
The next season Crawford raced in German and Italian Formula 4 with Van Amersfoort Racing and she successfully won 8 races each and came second and first respectively.
It was only a matter of time until the young prodigy got herself a seat in the big leagues. In late November 2017, Crawford signed a contract with the Italian team Prema Racing and the next year during his first and only season the half Brazilian half American gave the Prema team their second championship in a row so it was expected that the female driver will extend her contract but now as a Formula 2 driver. With 23 races that year, Crawford manage to take home 10 first place trophies, 4 second places and 3 third places, having an incredible rookie season. Later that year she will be contacted by Christian Horner to be part of the Red Bull Junior team and as a reserve driver. In 2020 due to the pandemic, Crawford took some time to spend with her family and she surprised everyone when she revealed in September 2020 that she will be part of the Formula E 2021 Championship, in which she came third.
𝐴𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Crawford has a youtube channel called "Lani Crawford" where she posts weekly vlogs and records her training or race weekends both in English and Portuguese. She films her vacations as well as her brother's competitions. She has currently 6 million subscribers. All the money she gains with Youtube goes to her foundation #pegadasdeamor which helps shelters all around São Paulo, Brazil where she's originally from.
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Hope you liked meeting Alana! Let me know in the comments your opinion on her and how you imagine her personality.
Lots of love <3
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Fanfiction𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚, 𝘼-𝘽-𝘾-𝘿, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙨𝙤 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙄𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛�...
