Dan Ticktum, Williams, 2019

F1 offers goodwill gesture to fan “kicked out” of simrace in favour of Ticktum

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Formula 1 has guaranteed a place for a 15-year-old fan in one of its official online events after they were dropped from its Drivers Versus Fans simrace at short notice last weekend.

Yashish Manohar said in a post on social media he was “very upset and disappointed” after spending hours preparing to take part in Sunday’s Challenge Williams event only to be “kicked out” shortly before it began.

“Eventually, I was given the reason from the broadcasters that they had to make space for a Formula 1 [or] 2 driver and my name came up randomly,” he added.

F1 is running its official series of Challenge events on weekends when its Virtual Grands Prix are not scheduled. Manohar’s place in the event was taken by Williams’ development driver Dan Ticktum, who was participating alongside race drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, plus reserve driver Jack Aitken.

An F1 spokeperson told RaceFans there had been a “misunderstanding” with Manohar over their participation.

“For the final event we [invited] the Williams drivers to race against a grid of F1 fans. We build out a shortlist of fans to take part – they need to post their Steam details on social.

“We have to oversubscribe the list to account for drop-outs to ensure we have enough people for a full race, and unfortunately this weekend this driver didn’t make the final grid for the race despite having been in the lobby ahead of the race. However we are trying to minimise the number of drivers that join the lobby moving forward.”

“Both F1 and Williams have followed up with the driver in question to guarantee him a spot in the next Challenge event as a goodwill gesture after his disappointment not making the grid,” they added.

Fan David Zamora won the race after the two Williams race drivers collided at the final corner. Ticktum retired after five laps.

The Virtual Grand Prix series is due to resume on Sunday, when the Dutch Grand Prix would have been held. As Zandvoort does not feature in the 2019 edition of the official Formula 1 game a poll of fans was held to decide where the race will take place, which was won by Brazilian Grand Prix venue Interlagos.

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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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    10 comments on “F1 offers goodwill gesture to fan “kicked out” of simrace in favour of Ticktum”

    1. Dan Ticktum rage quitting a non-serious e-race that he’s participating in for his boss tells you pretty much all you need to know about how he hasn’t learned a thing since he came back from his suspension. Like Ferucci, I’m mystified why any brand would want their name associated with them. First Red Bull and now Williams, they both come of worse for being associated with Dan Ticktum.

      1. A simple +1 here to the above. Terrible behaviour.

      2. @Aiii If I recall correctly, the actual start of the final race including Ticktum was also delayed several minutes because he had selected the Williams in the game and wasn’t allowing Russell to drive in the Williams, as was necessary given that this whole event was about the two Williams race drivers competing against each other.

        It just seems like an endless catalogue of appalling on and off-track behaviour from an individual who appears to continue to be given every opportunity despite of this.

        Given how privileged racing drivers are just to be able to compete to begin with, it is deeply frustrating to see how Ticktum continues to be given chance after chance.

      3. Indeed – it wasn’t just the fan being kicked out (which wasn’t nice in itself), when I found out in lieu of whom, it was even more annoying.

        The only good to come out of this is that it has shone a light once again on Dan’s poor behaviour. In all honestly, that 15-year old kid’s post on reddit shows far more maturity.

    2. It’s all about viewing figures and ratings, the actual sport and fairness comes a distant 2nd. Been the same ever since TV sport became a hugely profitable business. Conflict and drama is very popular sadly.

    3. Teams like Williams make so many poor decisions like hiring this Dan guy. And then when the go bankrupt someone will find a way to blame Ferrari

      1. Say what? Lol

    4. Imagine being kicked out of a race you spent hours practicing for to make room for an immature brat who then rage quits less than halfway through…

      Baffles me why anyone seems to keep giving this Ticktum character another chance. He’s nowhere near good enough to justify all these clean slates.

    5. As long as they are booting, it should be the slowest time to get the boot rather than random. That way, a non-pro driver can have a hint if a boot is coming. As it is now, it’s like having the rug pulled out from under you.

    6. I am confused as to how Dan’s entry was not anticipated, given that he is a Williams driver and this was a Challenge Williams event. As such, there should not have been a mystery as to whether he was participating or not; he (and the other known pro participants) should have had a space reserved for them at the beginning, before issuing the non-pro driver invites began. Therefore, there should not have been a need to boot anyone out of the lobby to accommodate Dan.

      While Dan’s conduct does not particularly impress me, it appears the organisers did a worse job. The only one who emerges with credit from this is Yashish.

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