Ticktum’s Guest Column: Why you should never give up in F2

Dan Ticktum became the second home winner at Silverstone in as many years, taking his first ever victory in Formula 2 in Sunday’s Sprint Race. The British racer takes control of this week’s guest column to pen his thoughts on a successful weekend.

He looks at the lessons he’s learned from the first four rounds, why DAMS have struggled in Qualifying, and talks about the 18-inch tyres.

ONE GOOD POINT – DELIVERING ON LESSONS LEARNED

I think that the best point from the weekend was probably the fact that we found some good pace at the beginning of the Sprint Race, because so far, we have struggled a little at the beginning of races.

I would say that’s the best point from Round 4, in terms of how we have learned from the previous rounds and moved forward.

ONE BAD POINT – QUALIFYING STRUGGLES CONTINUE

We struggled in Qualifying again this weekend. We couldn’t really get the tyre working in the first tap and the balance wasn’t quite perfect. We seem to have struggled a little in Qualifying this year, so that is probably where we need to improve most, which will help me to be in a better place for the Feature Race.

WHAT I LEARNED – NEVER GIVE UP

I learned again that even if you have a bad Qualifying session, you should never give up. You can always salvage a good weekend from a not so great start, which is why the reverse grid is helpful.

That is probably the biggest thing to take away from this weekend, because I was pretty annoyed after Qualifying to be honest.

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED – WE’RE STILL GETTING USED TO THE NEW TYRES

The biggest thing for me is the tyres - fans cannot underestimate how different it is this year, in terms of warmup procedures. I still don’t think everyone has fully gotten their head around it.

This is why we are seeing so many random results. Some people are up there in one race, or one weekend and they are quick, and then in the next round, they aren’t, and then they are again the weekend after. The tyres are very, very sensitive.

NEXT TIME OUT – SILVERSTONE (AGAIN)

I think we have found some good pace at the beginning of the race, so hopefully that will help us in Qualifying as well. We learned a lot about the balance of the car this weekend as well. It is just a shame you don’t get more testing and you only get four sessions on track.

I think we have made steps in the right direction and I am looking forward to getting back to Silverstone this week, and getting back in the car again.

See you soon, Dan