Ticktum explains social media message to George Russell after ‘unnecessary’ remark

Although Dan Ticktum insists he has no issue with George Russell, he felt his compatriot’s jab after the Spanish Grand Prix was “all a bit unnecessary.”

Russell clashed with Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix when the Red Bull driver, appearing to let Russell overtake him to give back a position after an earlier incident, suddenly accelerated into the Mercedes driver.

Dan Ticktum was irked by George Russell’s ‘unnecessary’ dig

Sky F1 commentator and 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg immediately labelled it deliberate.

“He needs to get black flagged,” he said in the commentary booth. “He just crashed into Russell on purpose just to prove a point. That was horrible. That did not look good. That’s bad, bad, bad. That is seriously bad.”

But while Russell did not go so far as to say it was deliberate, he told the media, including PlanetF1.com: “It felt very deliberate, to be honest.”

Asked whether he had ever seen such an incident in Formula 1, Russell replied: “Not in Formula 1. Maybe in Formula E.

“Yeah, maybe one British driver in Formula E.”

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Although Russell did not name names, Ticktum believed that comment was a reference to him, as he served a two-year racing ban earlier in his career for causing a deliberate crash as he overtook a Safety Car and several drivers to smash into his MSA Formula title rival Ricky Collard in 2015.

The 25-year-old Formula E driver responded to Russell’s comment in an Instagram post.

“Good evening, sports fans, I hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday,” he wrote. “I’ve just had a very nice evening with the team and some of the guys from Porsche here in Shanghai. I’m just on the way back to the hotel.

“It has come to my attention, via the Twittersphere, that a certain driver in Formula One, not to name names, but his name is George Russell, has made some rather choice comments about a certain Formula E driver.

“He hasn’t named my name, but it’s quite obviously pointed at me. I’d like to address those comments that he made.

“Number one, thank you for the free publicity. We’ll take that any day of the week. And two, while what Max did today was a little bit skeptical, to be likened to him at any point in my career is positive, if you ask me. Goodbye.”

Russell was told of Ticktum’s response ahead of his Thursday media briefing in Canada, and stressed he didn’t mean any offense.

“I’ve known Ticktum for a while, an obviously talented driver,” he said. “I didn’t mean any offense with my comment. I was just using that as an example.

“So, yeah, I heard he saw the funny side of it.”

Asked if there were ‘no problems’ between himself and his compatriot, he replied: “No. I mean, I’ve not actually seen him for a long time. I know he’s racing in Formula E, I keep half an eye on that when I can, so I know he’s done a pretty decent job.”

But while Russell says there’s no issues there, Ticktum has told RacingNews365 that he’s still irked by Russell’s post-Spanish GP jab as it was unnecessary.

“Yeah, I definitely thought, why?” he said.

“Honestly, I’ve known George for a little while. I’ve not seen him for years, but I don’t believe there was anything malicious really, behind the comments. I just thought it was all a bit unnecessary to make, arguably, a bit of a gibe.

“Whichever way you’re looking at it, it’s a bit of a gibe, I just thought it was a bit unnecessary. I respect George massively for where he is in his career. And it’s not like I’m trying to take the piss out of him or anything, like he’s got to F1, he’s successful.

“He’s doing the job. So, yeah, I respect him in that sense. But I just, I didn’t really understand that, to be honest.”

Ticktum claimed his first Formula E victory at the Jakarta ePrix, holding off Edoardo Mortara to win on the 60th time of asking in the all-electric series.

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