20-year-old Englishman Dan Ticktum has joined the Williams Driver Academy as a development driver for the 2020 season.
Formerly of Red Bull’s young driver program, Ticktum joins fellow Brit and inaugural W Series champion Jamie Chadwick in the Williams team.
He said: “It is a privilege to be joining the Williams Racing Driver Academy, especially given Williams’s incredible heritage in our sport,
“The time in the simulator and experience working with the team will prove invaluable for my development.
“Being fully integrated into the operations will be a fantastic opportunity and I look forward to assisting wherever I can.”
Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams was delighted to welcome Ticktum into the team.
She said: “I am delighted that Dan, another exciting young British talent, has joined the Williams Racing Driver Academy.
“His ability behind the wheel has been demonstrated with back-to-back successes at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 2017 and ’18.”
Ticktum endured a torrid 2019 after failing to perform to expectations in Super Formula in Japan, Red Bull pulled their support and he therefore lost his drive to Mexican Patricio O’Ward, now of McLaren’s Indycar team.
He has now been signed by reigning FIA Formula 2 teams’ champions DAMS for the 2020 season alongside Indonesian Sean Gelael.
The London born Ticktum has always shown impressive speed in most series he has raced in, most notably winning back-to-back Macau GP’s in 2017 and 2018.
But his attitude has let him down on occasions, in 2015, he was slapped with a two-year racing ban by the UK governing body the MSA after overtaking 10 cars under safety car conditions to crash into then MSA Formula championship rival Ricky Collard.
He’s not one to hold his tongue either, during his FIA Formula 3 European Championship battle with Mick Schumacher and PREMA, he posted on social media claiming there to be something different with the German’s car after Schumacher won six races on the bounce to pull clear of Ticktum.
No matter what your opinion is of Dan Ticktum, you can guarantee it won’t be boring.
