Ticktum: Big step up to a Formula 1 car

Dan Ticktum was at the wheel of Red Bull’s RB15 for the final day of testing in Bahrain.

“I learned a lot today and my first time in a modern F1 car was a big step” said Dan. “I think the biggest thing was learning the procedures. There’s a lot of settings to use, a lot to do on the steering wheel, even on a push lap, which isn’t the case in the junior formula. That was quite a lot to take in at the start – but I got used to it pretty quickly.”

It was also interesting having a garage full of people. It brings home that there’s a massive responsibility on the driver to deliver not just for himself and his engineers but for a whole Team. I think we gathered some really good data today, which is obviously the most important part of the test. We did some long runs and I had a good opportunity to gain an understanding of how these tyres work. All in all, I’d say the test went well today.”

Simon Rennie, Group Leader, Simulator Engineering, added: “Today went very smoothly. We did 135 laps, which is pretty impressive for Dan’s first time in the car. He did lots of aerodynamic work that involved complex procedures and performed all of those very well. He could experience some set-up changes and longer runs to give him a good feeling for the RB15. Dan has been doing good work in our simulator without having driven the real car – so today has definitely been valuable for him and us. When he’s next on the simulator, he’ll have a very good reference. That was one of the big positives of the day as he now knows what the car really feels like, rather than having to go on what we tell him!”