Taking a year out and joining F1 driver academies: The moments that made Dan Ticktum

Still just 22-years-old, Dan Ticktum has already packed a lot of success into his fledging motorsport career.

As well as two Macau Grand Prix victories, he’s also a race winner in multiple Championships - including Formula 2, European Formula 3 and Formula Renault - on top of spells with the esteemed Red Bull and Williams Formula 1 driver academies.

But which moments have been pivotal in getting him to where he is today? We spoke with the Carlin driver, who picked out the three moments that made him.

TAKING A YEAR OUT OF MOTORSPORT

“There were times in my early career when I got into trouble and had to take a year out of motorsport, I don't like coming back to that, but it was a big character reflection for me, and it made me mature in a lot of ways.

“Then I got signed by Red Bull straight away and I think it made me value the opportunities I had in life a bit more. I'm very mature in some ways, but immature in others still, and sometimes they conflict a little bit. If you're overly mature, and immature in other ways, you become arrogant about your maturity, which is immature in itself.”

GETTING SIGNED BY RED BULL

“Getting signed by Red Bull was an incredibly positive part of my career. Doing all of the F1 stuff there for a few years in the sim taught me loads about how to engineer a car properly, with top level engineers. It really helped me translate my feedback to my engineers and help improve the set-up that I have in whatever car I'm in.

“I think if you ask the teams that have worked with me in the last couple of years, they'll all say that I'm very good at giving feedback. Very articulate and very good at putting the car in the direction it needs to go.”

GETTING SIGNED BY WILLIAMS

“Getting signed by Williams is another one. Getting picked up by Williams was very positive, the family, Frank, Claire and Mark were incredibly supportive, and I was in a very tough time after I got dropped by Red Bull. It wasn't so much as an arm around me, but it gave me another confidence boost to go and try do well the next year in Formula 2.

“Unfortunately, the year with DAMS wasn't that strong, there were a couple of changes to the car, and to the team, and we struggled all year really. Vips was my teammate for a bit, and he sort of couldn't get near me and we were sort of around the top 10, but we weren't fighting enough.”