Dan Ticktum has launched an explosive rant at the level of racing and stewarding currently in Formula E, claiming it is “like rental kart hacks” after a disappointing start to the campaign.
The Kiro driver has failed to score a point in the 2025/26 season, despite starting from the front row at the Sao Paulo opener, where he suffered a puncture having been hit by the Mahindra of Nyck de Vries and later retired.
On Saturday in Mexico Ticktum was hit by Antonio Felix da Costa, who had also just collided with Maximilian Gunther while defending from Nick Cassidy at Turn 5.
Stewards opted against giving any penalties because it was “the result of several unfortunate elements” and the initial contact between da Costa and eventual winner Cassidy was “too minor”.
The Briton therefore strongly disagreed with the decision, adding it was a similar scenario in Brazil which was headlined by various stoppages, including a late red flag.
“I’ve been trying to not hit my head against a wall,” said Ticktum, who also had an incident with da Costa prior to the lap 25 clash, on social media. “In my previous story I said another idiot could hit me and that’s exactly what happened.
"I was running P5 or P6 at the time after a good opening few laps, got hit, lost three places - that driver didn’t receive a penalty. I don’t understand how you can be in a world championship when someone just crashes into the back of you and they don’t get a penalty.
“The safety car came out for another incident and then couple laps later there was another incident down in Turn 5 and I was just a victim of it. That was my race over, [because I] had suspension damage.
“And now we need to get onto the hot topic, which is the level of stewarding, or lack of stewarding, in Formula E at the moment. I know we’re not quite F1, but we are branded as a world championship.
“I can’t say too much what happens in driver briefings, but essentially they said from Sao Paulo that they flat out missed things. We’re in a world championship, you can’t be missing things as the FIA - it’s just not good enough.
“People [are] just getting away with far too much and that is just leading to the races being like rental kart hacks. People just send moves, hoping for the best, people’s wings off here and there and it’s just chaos.”
His rookie team-mate Pepe Marti was involved in the crash which caused the Sao Paulo red flag, as he misjudged a full-course yellow call and hit the back of da Costa and Nico Mueller, sending the Kiro airborne and into a roll.
Marti was therefore penalised with a back row start in Mexico, plus a 10-second stop-go for a complete powertrain change, but he ultimately scored six points with seventh place after launching a late comeback drive.
“I don’t want it to go too far the other way and ruin the racing, but at the moment it’s not right,” added the 26-year-old, who is in his fifth season of the all-electric championship.
"My team-mate scored points, good on him, but to sum up Formula E or the first two rounds: he obviously had an enormous crash in Sao Paulo and that meant he had to start at the back of the grid and he had a stop-go penalty.
“I’ve qualified second and sixth in the first two races and my team-mate is beating me in the championship.
“So you may as well not qualify, chill at the back, wait for everyone to crash into each other, save energy and come through from there. A very frustrating start to the season.”
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