Why Dan Ticktum's social media outbursts should be cherished - rather than criticised

Formula 1 might still be on winter break, but the new Formula E season is already in full gear. Last Saturday, the electric series took to the track in Mexico for its second race of the season, which ended up being another difficult weekend for Ticktum. The Briton has yet to reach the chequered flag in season 12, after being crashed into by Nyck de Vries in São Paulo and now Antonio Felix da Costa in Mexico City.

Da Costa, who had just been involved in an incident with Maximilian Gunther and Nick Cassidy, ended up hitting Ticktum in the aftermath. The damage to Ticktum’s car was so severe that he was forced to retire the car for the second consecutive time this Formula E season.

However, the real drama happened online. After the race, a social post from Autosport was posted online, in which the Kiro driver was quoted to have said: "Just a bunch of c***s, mate. They race like petulant children, honestly, it’s pathetic. Then the race director just doesn’t give anyone penalties. I’ve had enough. It’s not a category of talent.”

The post quickly gained a lot of traction, after which the (often colourful) comments started flooding in. Ticktum then commented on the post himself, explaining that ‘his words were taken out of context.’ He voiced that he’s ‘the only driver who has the balls to challenge the lack of penalties’ and that 'he’s just trying to make the sport better for viewers and competitors’.

The comment was then deleted by the publication, after which Ticktum took to his personal Instagram stories and reels to further explain the situation.

It’s easy to lose people’s faith, but much harder to gain it. American actor Will Rogers once said: “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.” It is without a doubt that the British driver has done - and said - some questionable things in the past – he has even admitted this himself on multiple occasions. It might sound like a cliche, but everyone makes mistakes - the most important thing is that you learn from them.

Ticktum has definitely learned from some of his mistakes - that much has become evident when speaking to him in interviews over the past few years. Season after season, he's shown a lot of growth - both on track and in front of the cameras. He's not only played a big part in getting Kiro to rise through the ranks - helping the team go from the back of the grid to race winners in 2025 – but he’s also matured a lot when it comes to his media appearances. Nowadays, he still speaks his mind most of the time, but he also seems to know when to switch to his inside voice.

But what is possibly the most impressive about his growth: he did it without ever losing sight of who he is as a person. Because Ticktum wouldn’t be Ticktum without his brutal honesty – and it’s that brutal honesty that makes it incredibly fun for a journalist to interview him. These days, it's hard to find drivers who will still speak their mind, regardless of whether what’s on their mind is pretty or not. But with him, what you see is what you get, and if you show him respect, he shows you respect in return.

We should be embracing characters like him, rather than trying to shrink their personalities. If we wanted to watch emotionless robots driving these cars, we could just be watching a simulation. Instead, we should encourage the emotion, passion and hard work shining through.

Over the years, there have been many complaints that the FIA doesn’t allow drivers to show their personality anymore, which shows that it is still what people want to see. So it's unfortunate to see so much hate stemming from it.

Even as a journalist, I wouldn’t claim to know any of the drivers really well, because at the end of the day, we often only get to see their work persona. But the last few years have proven, without a doubt, that Ticktum is one of the most underrated drivers out there - not just as driver but also as a human.

He’s a damn fast driver with a lot of potential, and his track record proves that too. Despite what many might think, he’s genuinely a nice person, who has proven to have learned from his mistakes and to be given the benefit of the doubt.