Formula E: Ticktum in Shanghai best Porsche on Saturday, but Sunday "a day to forget"

Dan Ticktum from Team Cupra Kiro missed out on his second Formula E podium by just 0.378 seconds from 21st on the grid in Saturday's race at the Shanghai E-Prix. Things did not go at all for the Briton in qualifying on Sunday either, but he was unable to make much progress in the difficult weather conditions. After the race weekend, Ticktum countered an attack by Formula 1 driver George Russell.

Fourth place was actually a disappointment for Dan Ticktum in view of the course of the race in the first round of the Shanghai E-Prix. The Briton was in third place on the final lap before passing Taylor Barnard before the final chicane. However, he was overtaken by Jean-Eric Vergne shortly afterwards, lost momentum and had to let Barnard pass again. Nevertheless, he scored twelve important points for the championship - not only for the drivers' and team standings, but also for the manufacturers' championship. He was the only Porsche-powered driver to make it into the top 10.

"I wasn’t expecting to get much out of today after Qualifying," said Ticktum after the first race of the double-header. " I must have had a rubbish set of tyres because I had no pace at all, but we should have started inside the top 10. Starting from 21st meant that we had to come up with a different strategy and we pulled it off very, very well."

"I am proud of the team"

"I did my job, the team did their job, and we should have had a podium if it wasn’t for some questionable driving by others," he described. "I’m proud of the team, I feel like we’re getting there, and more often than not now, we seem to be fighting at the sharp end."

On Sunday, things also went badly for Ticktum in the rain-soaked qualifying session. After always being among the top eight in his group before the Shanghai E-Prix, his statistics suffered significantly with starting positions 21 and 19 in China. In the race itself, very little happened overall, meaning that he was hardly able to gain any positions. A spin shortly before the halfway point of the race was a minor incident, but Ticktum lost ten seconds and dropped from 18th to 21st place. In the end, it was only enough for 16th place.

"We messed up with the car set up"

"It was too wet to race, and the visibility was too poor," explained Ticktum after Sunday's race. "Unfortunately, we messed up with the car set up in Qualifying and we had no grip, so I wasn’t able to put the car into a good starting position for the race. It’s very difficult to go forward in a race like that."

"There was one line where there was slightly less standing water, but off-line, it was like ice," Ticktum continued. "It was difficult to overtake and make an impact, and I also made a couple of mistakes trying to push into the points. We did make some changes from Qualifying into the race which did make the car feel more competitive, but we were starting too far back. Overall, a day to forget"

"Positive to be likened to Max (Verstappen)"

Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell, who was asked after an alleged deliberate ramming by Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona whether he thought there was any other driver in the world who would do such a thing, had replied: "Not in Formula 1. Maybe in Formula E, yes, maybe one British driver in Formula E."

An undoubted reference to Ticktum, who received a two-year ban as a 16-year-old after deliberately ramming a competitor behind the safety car. He replied shortly afterwards in an Insta story: "He hasn't named my name, but it's quite obviously pointed at me," Ticktum said. "Thank you for the free publicity. We'll take that any day of the week. While what Max did today was a little bit skeptical, to be likened to him at any point in my career, it's a positive if you ask me."

After the Shanghai E-Prix, Ticktum has already collected 55 points this season - 14 more than in his first three Formula E seasons combined. This puts him in 10th place in the overall standings after eleven of 16 races this season. The next race is scheduled for 21 June in Jakarta (Indonesia).