F1 News
Dan Ticktum speaks out after being ditched by Red Bull in the summer
Dan Ticktum has been relatively quiet since Red Bull pointed him towards the exit door during the summer. He was once seen as the next driver to join the list of talents coming out of the Red Bull junior programme but it wasn't to be.
The British driver scored just a single point in the opening three races of the Super Formula season. Ticktum claims he didn't get enough chances in these three races to prove his talents.
"Unfortunately at both Suzuka and Autopolis, I didn’t have a chance to qualify [well], because there were four red flags at Suzuka and I think five red flags at Autopolis. It was very unfortunate. For the first two races, I didn’t have a chance to prove my pace at all, then at Sugo, there was obviously a problem because the year before I’d qualified eighth on my first time ever on the track and everything," Ticktum told Formula scout.
"I will say I feel like the team were pointing the finger a little bit at me. They were saying I need to maybe change my driving style a little bit. I can see maybe I could have improved a bit, obviously, a driver can always improve, but I was not one second off my team-mate.”
The 20-year-old hasn't given up on a return to Red Bull and Toro Rosso in the future. He believes team boss Christian Horner will back him up.
“Christian [Horner], I’m sure he’ll back whatever I say up. He was very happy with the F1 tests and also the simulator work I was doing at the factory. Everyone was happy. So it was just a bit of a rash decision, I think. But there’s no disrespect to Dr Helmut Marko, I got on really well with him so I’m not going to burn the bridge. Who knows what will happen in the future."