Ticktum was wrong to attempt three-wide pass, stewards rule

Formula 2

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Dan Ticktum was to blame for a three-car collision in the Formula 2 feature race in Baku because there was not enough room for the pass to work, the stewards declared.

An unimpressed Ticktum, who was given a 10-second time penalty and two endorsement points on his licence, called the decision “beyond ridiculous”.

The Carlin driver dived down the inside of Theo Pourchaire and Marcus Armstrong at turn three on lap one. The trio made contact, and while Ticktum was able to continue the other two retired.

Ticktum said Armstrong left him and Pourchaire between them too little room to make the corner.

“The cars in front at [turn three] braked so early so I went for the gap,” said Ticktum. “The car on the right properly squeezed the car in the middle which then left me with no room. The car in the middle actually made contact with the car on the outside before I made any contact at all.

“To get a 10 second penalty for that is beyond ridiculous but it’s all happened now. The pace was obscene so I really think I could’ve won today.”

The stewards explained why they held Ticktum responsible for the crash. “Cars 17 [Armstrong], 10 [Pourchaire] and five [Ticktum] approached turn two with car 17 on the right and ahead of car 10, which was in the middle and ahead of car five.

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“Car five had visibility of both cars ahead of him and on his right as he approached turn two, knowing
there was not room for more than two cars to take the corner side by side. He maintained his position, knowing that the space he was in was inevitably going to disappear at the apex. Car five was wholly responsible for the subsequent contact.”

Verschoor thumped into Viscaal
Ticktum’s penalty was one of seven handed down by the stewards following an incident-filled race.

Pole winner Liam Lawson was given a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points for forcing Pourchaire off-track at the exit of turn one at the start. Lawson “went off track on the inside of turn one at the exit and whilst off track thereby forced car 10 even wider and into the pit lane exit”, the stewards ruled. Richard Verschoor was given the same sanction for crashing into the back of Bent Viscaal at turn one.

Two drivers collected penalties for pit lane violations. David Beckmann was issued a five-second penalty for failing to fully enter the fast lane, driving along it with two wheels in the slow lane. Oscar Piastri was penalised 10 seconds after his Prema team waved him out into the path of Felipe Drugovich.

Alessio Deledda was held responsible for two violations, putting him on a total of four penalty points. The stewards blamed the HWA driver for a collision with Guilherme Samaia and penalised him for taking too long to allow race winner Juri Vips to lap him. The stewards said Deledda “moved in a dangerous way that could have caused a significant incident”.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “Ticktum was wrong to attempt three-wide pass, stewards rule”

  1. RandomMallard (@)
    6th June 2021, 14:16

    Water is wet

    – Formula 2 Stewards

  2. There are plenty of things more ridiculous, Dan. Like you still having a racing license.

  3. 100% correct. Attempting an overtake inside two other cars at that corner is ridiculous. Dan Tantrum is never at fault though ……..

  4. Typical Ticktum. Embarassing himself yet again. Once again he proves that he doesn’t have the understanding nor the calibre to make it to the big time.

  5. Still the most disliked driver to this day. He just can’t change.

  6. I’ve just literally seen the incident on the rerun and he hit the side of middle car of the 3 and blatantly at fault for the incident. I’m shocked he only got 2 points and not 3 for the incident and fully deserved the penalty.

  7. Don’t know what that commentator is on about, it’s clearly not a 3 into 1 situation because 2 cars have just gone through pretty much side by side, so at worst it’s 3 into 2. The logic of the stewards doesn’t make sense either. Ticktum was far enough up the inside to be left a car’s width by Pourchaire, but Armstrong probably doesn’t know Ticktum is there so turns in to claim the corner, leaving enough space for Pourchaire but not for Ticktum. Pourchaire also knew Ticktum was on his inside and Armstrong was on his outside so could have braked earlier too and allowed the others to go through. Armstrong could have left more space on the inside if he knew that Ticktum was there (I’m guessing he didn’t know this so maybe gets least blame). If the stewards are now applying penalties to anyone who goes for a gap that will disappear if someone turns in, then that just gives license to the person on the outside to chop the corner to stay ahead. Had it been anyone else apart from Ticktum (or Mazepin!) that would be a racing incident all day long.

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