The Odyssey of Dan Ticktum

Dan Ticktum has been one of the biggest topics of discussion for the past few years when it comes to junior drivers in motorsport. Once seen as one of the biggest talents of his generation alongside Lando Norris and Callum Ilott, he now finds himself in a confusing position after a dissapointing debut Formula 2 season which saw him finish eleventh in he standings.

Dan Ticktum started his junior career in London, winning multiple British Karting Championships. He soon progressed into cars but it would not be quite the fairytale story for him as despite leading the early rounds of the 2015 MSA Formula Championship, he would soon lose ground to rivals Ricky Collard and Lando Norris.

However, he would be surrounded by controversies as during a race at Silverstone, Ticktum overtook multiple cars under safety car and crashed into Ricky Collard on purpose. The FIA handed him a two year motorsport ban, but later reduced it to one.

He would make a return to motorsport at the final round of F3 European Championship towards the end of 2016. The shock, however, came early in 2017 as Ticktum was announced as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. He was also confirmed to be driving in the Formula Renault Championship but only manged seventh place in the drivers championship.

But his real performance of that year would come in November as he would take a last corner victory at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. This win would set the tone for his 2018 season as he would start his European F3 campaign dominantly taking four wins in the early rounds, however, Mick Schumacher and his team Prema would suddenly show a lot of pace and would eventually beat Ticktum to the title.

This though, did not go down well with Ticktum who publicly accused Schumacher and Prema of cheating. Despite facing pressure from the media, he did not show any weakness in his driving as when he took part in the Macau Grand Prix that year, he dominated it, showing that he had the talent to go all the way.

As a two time Grand Prix winner going into the 2019 season, things were looking great for him and Red Bull were looking to get him a superlicence to enter him in F1 to replace either Pierre Gasly or Danill Kyvat for the following year. He was placed in the Asian F3 Series for the first half of the year and clearly didn't impress as he finished ninth.

He was switched to The Japanese Super Formula Championship for the next half of the year but after three lackluster rounds, he was dropped by the Red Bull Junior Team and subsequently left the Championship. Ticktum would not drive any further that year other than an appearance at the Macau Grand Prix where he finished thirteenth.

In a bid to keep his career on track, he approached all the F1 teams to see if he could join as a development driver. And sure enough, he was granted that at Williams. He was also taken up by reigning Formula Two champions DAMS to drive for them for the 2020 season where he would have a chance to compete against the most talented youngsters of his generation including his former rival Mick Schumacher.

After a decent start to his campaign, he gained a lot of momentum and took his first win at his home race at Silverstone. The next day he would find himself in yet another controversy as he was hammered by the media over a comment he said on the team radio whilst battling Louis Deletraz as he threatened to crash into him.

However, he would be plagued with terrible luck for the rest of the season as he would clash with Roy Nissany while battling over the lead at Belgium, losing out on a lot of points. Later, he would win at Monza (Italy) only to be disqualified because of a problem with the fuel tank.

At Mugello (Italy), the next week, he showed excellent pace and looked like one of the contenders for the win until he was taken out of the race by Yuki Tsunoda towards the end. What followed was some ranting over the radio which caught a lot of people's attention.
Once again he was criticized, this time for calling Tsunoda a 'Stupid Little Bloke'.

Ticktum has now been contracted to Carlin for this year and will once again compete in F2. He is expected to better his eleventh place finish as he will now have a belt of experience under him. But the competition will be fierce and he won't have an easy teammate like last year as Jehan Daruvala, a Red Bull Junior has been confirmed to take the other seat at Carlin.

So, if Dan Tictkum is going to get to F1, he will have to excell this year and while he does have talent, he will need consistency and a decent attitude. After all, it has always been these two factors that have hindered him from achieving his goal.

 

Photo Credit: Dutch Photo Agency/ danticktum.com