Dan Ticktum has been one of the star performers in the second half of the 2024-25 Formula E season, but his home race in London marked a frustrating end to a breakthrough campaign.
The Cupra Kiro driver crashed out of Saturday's race, having earlier spun Mitch Evans's Jaguar around - a move which he was immediately remorseful about.
A day later, Ticktum was left baffled by an astonishing, unseen exchange with Porsche stablemate Pascal Wehrlein on the slowing down lap after the two had made contact earlier in the race. That came after Ticktum had pitted to have a new Hankook tyre fitted after damaging one in an early incident that led to a puncture.
Ticktum is currently being considered for a future role at the factory Porsche team as it debates whether its present driver Antonio Felix da Costa is held to an option on his services for next season.
The Race can now reveal that he was gesticulated at by Wehrlein - who was classified eighth - as the two cruised back into the pits after an altercation. Ticktum subsequently told his engineer Nico Morel: "I don't know what Wehrlein is angry about. I'm not your bitch, mate!"
When asked to expand upon the incident that clearly upset Wehrlein, Ticktum - who started the season finale from pole - told The Race that he had "just came out of attack mode, and he left the door open at Turn 4, I had 3% more energy than him, and I was going for it".
"So obviously, we've worked together in the past, but we weren't on the same strategy there, and when we're on the same strategy I need to play the game for points and everything," he added.
"I will play the game, I can be a team player, but at that moment, I had more energy than him, and I was passing people and going forward.
"I'm going to treat him like anyone else at that point, I'm no one's bitch."
The other incident
Ticktum was left especially fuming after receiving a time penalty late in the race for an incident with Nissan's Norman Nato that was not seen by the TV cameras.
That was a second five-second penalty of the day after an earlier infraction was confirmed for not staying within 10-car lengths of the field while the race was under safety car.
In penalising Ticktum for the contact with Nato, the stewards said that "the driver of car #33 [Ticktum] made contact with the rear right corner of car #17 [Nato] at Turn 9. Car #17 lost positions because of this contact".
Ticktum described the collision as a racing incident. Elaborating further, he said: "If you watch the on-board, I'm going down the hill into Turn 5, I'm fully ahead of him. And then into Turn 6, we're side-by-side, then he goes for an overtake round the outside and he's never passed me; it's front wheel to engine cover, let's say, and then he just turns in.
"I can’t disappear, I haven't locked up or dived down the inside, I've stayed exactly where I was, like all under control. And OK, he lost a couple of places, but that's a racing incident through and through."
Ticktum felt that he should not have received that penalty and said his team was considering whether it should build a petition for review against the sanction that contributed to him finishing a lowly 14th.
"There's a right to review but I shouldn't have had a penalty for that," added Ticktum, who dropped from seventh at the start of the London weekend to 11th in the final standings.
