DAMS accuse F2 of failing to fix fuel leaks after Ticktum disqualification

Formula 2

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Formula 2 team DAMS has issued a stinging criticism of the championship organisers after their driver Dan Ticktum was disqualified following his victory in today’s sprint race.

Ticktum was thrown out of the race result after the stewards found there was too little fuel in his car to take a sample at the end of the race.

DAMS said Formula 2 were previously aware of a problem on the fuel tank on Ticktum’s car and those of other teams but failed to repair them.

“This fuel tank problem has been known to the championship organisers and their suppliers for several races,” said the team’s managing director Francois Sicard.

“The tank in Dan’s car was serviced three races ago, but we still had an issue. We had the right quantity of fuel for the race, in fact we put too much in as a safety margin and it’s a miracle we finished.”

The team’s other car, driven by Sean Gelael and Yuri Vips, has also suffered many problems, Sicard added.

“Over 12 races, the number one car had six did-not-finishes due to engine-related issues and now, like many other teams, we have problems with the fuel tank and our case has been the most extreme.

“We finished the race but the fuel leak meant we failed scrutineering for something that is totally unrelated to the driver, the team and the engineers, who did their jobs well and properly calculated the fuel quantity. This has deprived Dan and DAMS of a great victory having dominated the entire race, and I understand why he is as gutted as we are.”

Two other drivers, Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zhou, suffered technical problems during today’s race.

“These issues cannot continue in such a championship with the budgets required to participate and be competitive,” said Sicard. “It is simply unacceptable.

“Every team on the grid has had far too many problems out of their control since the beginning of the season. Overall reliability is urgently needed.

“This is a very competitive championship which has the potential to be great, but it is now up to the organisers and their suppliers to solve all these issues once and for all.”

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Keith Collantine
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17 comments on “DAMS accuse F2 of failing to fix fuel leaks after Ticktum disqualification”

  1. I feel like Ticktum couldn’t sit down and read a book without something eventful happening

  2. Wait, the series knows cars are leaking what sounds like a not inconsequential amount of fuel and they’re still racing the cars? WHAT???

    There’s got to be more to this that that.

    1. F2 has a history of technical issues that gives teams and drivers headaches and cost people positions. This claim is not as weird as it sounds.

  3. Glad to see Ticktum lose a good result but sorry for the team – if it is indeed the championship organisers’ fault and not there’s, it’s unacceptable really. Also – for the umpteenth time this year Ilott has been the beneficiary of massive good fortune – that alone makes me hope he doesn’t win the championship. They say these things even out over a season, but it doesn’t look like it so far…

    1. These latest F2 cars have been plagued by issues, they had to have rolling starts for a few races last year because it was a lottery if you got off the start line cleanly or stalled in your grid box (very dangerous) it tool several races to sort it out and even now we still get the odd stall that is unexpected and usually unexplained. They break down quite regularly for a car that is produced on mass given all drivers have identical chassis and motor, they can only play around with relatively basic set up parameters (caster, tow, camber, damping, anti role and wing levels) so you would expect the manufacturer (Dallara for chassis and Mecha-chrome, for the engine and drive trains I think) would have got the bugs ironed out by now. They must make a fair few as F2 drivers can be quite crashy 🤣.
      So the championship organisers should be slightly red faced by all this silliness and need to put a rocket 🚀 under their supply and support partners to give all these young guys the chance they deserve to showcase their skills and not to forget, they (parents/ backers) are paying very handsomely for the privilege of a seat in the championship.

      Come on F2 get your act together. The racing is sone of the most entertaining on the plant when everything is working in harmony.

    2. @tflb damn, typo – I meant theirs.

    3. Glad to see Ticktum lose a good result

      @tflb As someone who doesn’t know anything about Ticktum, you need to explain this…

      1. Ticktum got himself a 2-year ban some time ago for overtaking several drivers during a SC and then crashing against a rival because they had a collision in lap 1.

      2. @skydiverian he has a long history of highly questionable conduct. Plus this year he has already threatened to crash into a rival on purpose, and abuses his team on the radio.

        1. @tflb you also forgot to mention his behaviour in the Super Formula races he participated in, where he abused the owners of the team he drove for and accused them of sabotaging him.

    4. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      7th September 2020, 6:21

      Tbf schwartzman has lucked into more places. He doesn’t seem to ever overtake. In the sprint race he only got to 6th because ghiotto smashed into aitken and tsunoda and zho had technical issues. He only seems to be able to drive from the front. Ilott had a pit issue in the feature and fought his way to a good points position ahead of schwartzman.

      1. @come-on-kubica Ilott’s pit issue was that he stalled. That was his fault. The only bad luck he’s had this year was being taken out by Tsunoda last week, but he wasn’t running in the points then. Plus he’s been gifted 2 poles by late red flags when loads of people were improving.

  4. The tech issues with this car even in its 3rd year is pretty horrible. I can see why DAMS would be upset with a race win being taken away. How much does that cost them, would they be able to put in a claim with the championship?

  5. Shouldn’t be happening at this level… maybe F2 don’t pay enough attention to such things now they have an effective monopoly on ‘Second Tier’ competition.

  6. Fuel tanks leaking? Sounds like the kind of serious issue which should be addressed immediately due to safety concerns. Which as it hasn’t makes me think they are making a much bigger deal of this than it really is.

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